Vb JURLSPRUD' 
■■"^LOMAGY. 



.YLLA3US 



POLITICAL HISTORY, 



0LUM3IAN UNIVERSITY. 



B99-1900, 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Chap. Copyright No... 

8helf_..ld/-.fe2. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




THE COLUMBIAN UNIVERSITY, 

WASHINGTON, D. C. 



SCHOOL OF 

COMPARATIVE JURISPRUDENCE AND DIPLOMACY, 

1 899- 1 900. 



SYLLABUS 



OF THE 



OUTLINES OF POLITICAL HISTORY 

BY 

BENAIAH L. WHITMAN, D. D., LL. D. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 

JUDD & DETWKILRR, PRINTERS. 

1900. 



68227 



21223 



■ . '.:> 



T 






Library of Congress 

Two Copies Received 
JUL 171900 

Copyn'ght antry 

SECOND COPY. 

Deliver«d to 

ORDER DIVISION, 

AUG 20 1900 



Copyriglit, 1900, 

By The Columbian University. 

Wa.shinffton, D. C. 



PREFACE. 



The usual apology for making a book is that for the 
purpose in hand something is needed different in some 
wa\^ from anything already available. No other 
apology is offered for this Syllabus. It has taken 
shape in the performance of a special task under 
special conditions. Its existence has been vindicated 
by accomplishment of the work required of it. Perhaps 
no other vindication is necessary. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

The First Great Nations. 

The Beginnings of History — Left by the Way — Egypt 

— The Great Rulers and Their Works — Chaldea — As- 
syria — Media — Babylonia — Persia — Geographical 
Grouping — General Character of Civilization — Intel- 
lectual Development — Art — Industry and Commerce — 
Religion — Morals — Political Spirit — Legacy of East to 
West. 

CHAPTER II. 

Greece* 

The Land — The People — Formative Period — Sparta — 
Athens — Macedon — The Greek Spirit — Intellectual 
Life — Art — Faith — Politics. 

CHAPTER III. 

Rome. 

K 

Italy — The Latin Stock — Amalgamation — Consolida- 
tion — Kingdom — Republic — The Same — Empire — 
Culture — Religion — Law — Political Organization. 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Barbarian Inundation. 

The Forest Children — Work and Play — The First Attack 

— The Struggle — Victory — The Old Order Changeth — 
Giving Place to New — Reflux. 

CHAPTER V. 

The "Western Empire Restored. 

The Frank — Merovingian Rule — Carolingian Sncces- 
sion — Prankish Alliance with Papacy — Charlemagne — 
Administration — Religion and Learning — Partition and 
Weakness — The Empire Re-founded — Emperor and 
Pope — Gregory Hildebrand — Conflict and Compro- 
mise — Frederick Barbarossa — The Contest Culmi- 
nates — Later History of Empire. 

(V) 



vi TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VI. 
The Feudal System and Centralized Government. 

The Middle Ages — Feudalism a Peculiar Social System 

— Also Legal — And Indirectly Political as Well — -Origin 

— Extent — Good and Evil — The Central Government 
Gathers Strength — Aids — The Central Government 
Prevails — In France : General — In France : Particular 

— In Spain — In England — The vSanie. 

CHAPTER VII. 

The Renaissance. 

The New Spirit — Occasions and Causes — Voices from 
the Dark — Prophets of the New Day — The Center of 
the New Order — The Renaissance Italian — The Re- 
naissance European — Literature — Art — Architecture 

— Sculpture — Painting — Science and Discovery — 
Politics — Profit and Loss. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Reformation. 

Serious Ouestions Inevitable — Answer Not Eas}- — Con- 
tributions Thereto — The Issue — Luther — Other Factors 

— Extent of the Movement — The Darker Side — Coun- 
ter-Reformation — Political Footing — The Reformation 
Recognized — General Results. 

CHAPTER IX. 

The Thirty Years' War. 

A Half Century of Discord — Discord Deepens into Hos- 
tility— Geographical Distribution of Religion — Catholic 
and Protestant Claims — Verging upon Conflict — Bohe- 
mian Revolution — Judgment upon Bohemia and Fred- 
erick — Danish Intervention — Impolicy of Ferdinand — 
Swedish Intervention — French Intervention — Peace of 
Westphalia — Reaping the Whirlwind — To the Victors 
the Spoils. 



'rABLK OF CONTENI'S. Vll 

CHAPTER X. 
Modern France. 

The Intervening Century — Two Ministers of Royalty — 
Age of Louis xiv — The Storm Gathers — The Storm 
Breaks — Constitutional Monarchy — Republic — Con- 
tinued — Empire — In Statu Quo — Net Gain — A Half 
Century of Experiment — France Today. 

CHAPTER XI. 

Russia* 

Geography and Ethnography — The Kingdom of Rurik — 
A New Line — Peter the Great — The Age of the Ama- 
zon — The First Alexander and the First Nicholas — The 
Last Half Century — Political Institutions — Social and 
Religious Background — Resume — What of the Future ? 

CHAPTER XII. 

The German Empire. 

Germany Before Westphalia — The Austrian Hegemony — 
Beginnings of Prussia — Growth — The Great Elector — 
The Great King — Days Good and Evil — Prussia a 
French Province — Rehabilitation — German Lines Re- 
drawn — Glimpses of Better Things — The Vision Grows 
Clearer — A New Center of Gravity — The Change Vin- 
dicated — North German Confederation — The Remain- 
ing Question Settled — A Race Become a Nation. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

England Since Thirteen Hundred. 

The Last Three Plantagenets — The House of Lancaster — 
The House of York — The Wars of the Roses — The 
Tudor Spirit — Henry, Father and Son — The English 
Reformation — Elizabeth — The Stuart Programme — 
The Programme in Force — Check — Restoration — The 
Divine Right of the People — The Hanoverian Kings — 
George the Third — Needed Reforms — Victoria Regina — 
The Making of the Nation — Greater Britain — The Brit- 
ish Empire. 



Vlll TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The United States, 

Political Coutinuity — The Colonial Period — Stirrings 
of National Spirit — Government by Debating Society — 
Learning by Doing — Reorganization — The Constitn- 
tion and its Makers — First Years of the Repnblic — The 
Democratic Succession — Jefferson to Monroe — Adams 
to Tyler — Polk to Buchanan — Slavery a National In- 
stitution — Protest and Appeal to Past — Civil War — 
Reconstruction — A Quarter Century of Republicanism — 
Leading by Turns — Colonial Expansion. 



CHAPTER L 



The First Great Nations. 



SEC. I. THK BKGINNINGS OF HISTORY. 

Death for a nation, as for an individual, is likely to 
be followed by burial. Burial not seldom is followed 
by oblivion. In such case it is only when the grave is 
opened that the world discovers what its earlier life has 
wrought, and how. Within the memory of men now 
living, history began with the story of Greece. The 
Empires of the Nile, the Euphrates, lay buried with 
their records. Sphinx and pyramid and obelisk and 
mound told where the records lay, but the world had 
forgotten what these signs meant. Pickaxe ^ and shovel 
opened out a way for the old life. History has seen 
her domain enlarged by two score centuries, Greece 
no longer stands for the old world. Beside the world 
of pyramid"- and ruined palace, Greece seems a nation of 
3^esterday. Those older nations are dead, but we know 
why they died and in part how they lived. Mummy 
and winged lion and brick and stone kept their secret 
well,^ but the new generation has learned ^ the secret, 
and for the opening chapter of history we must go to 
Egypt and Chaldea. What lies beyond we can only 
guess. Older graves yet may be opened, showing where 
to look for a still older life, tlioagh this is not probable.'' 
Meanwhile we shall do well to bear in mind that pre- 

(0 



2 THE FIRST GREAT NATlONvS. 

historic does not mean non-existent. It means simply 
that records are wanting, so that we do not know. 

' The newness of the work of restoring the past is indicated 
by the fact that Winckelmann, the father of archaeology, Uved 
within a century and a half of the present, 17 17-1768. Cham- 
poUion died in 1832, Botta in 1870, I^ayard in 1894. 

2 Enormous pyramids of Dynasties III and IV presuppose 
similar but smaller structures before. Origin of pyramid prob- 
ably lay in tumulus or mound of dead. 

'The obstacles in the way of exploration have always been 
great, in the nature of the case. In Egypt and Western Asia 
additional and wholly unnecessary difficulty has been provided 
by attitude of government. 

♦Champollion's achievement was to decipher hieroglyph, 
thereby laying foundation of Egyptian archaeology. Compari- 
son of name of Ptolemy on Rosetta stone with name of Cleo- 
patra on Philensian obelisk opened the way. 

^ Past civilizations are known only by their records. Absence 
of record prodad/y means unimportant development. 

SEC. 2. I^EFT BY THE WAY. 

No item of knowledge is unimportant. Not all 
knowledge, however, is important with reference to a 
given end. Concern with political power excludes 
many an inquiry of surpassing interest. For every 
power that emerges sufficiently to command attention 
there are a dozen of which the world takes little note. 
It was so in the past. The foothills bear an important 
relation to the mountain, no doubt, but it is the moun- 
tain that counts. A volcanic peak may be verj^ high, 
but if it is wholly isolated we do not turn aside to it 
when our task is to follow the outline of the range. 
Hence we study only a few of the nations we now know 
to have existed long ago.. China' has always stood by 
itself. India '^ for our purpose is not much better. So 
for other reasons with Phrygia, Parthia,^ Bactria, and 



THE FIRST GRKAT NATIONS. 3 

the multitude of nations about the Western coast.* Even 
Judea^ and Phoenicia^ are no exceptions, important as 
their work was. All these and the like we must pass 
by. We have to follow the line of political movement. '^ 
Six nations stand for this in the Old East. The light 
breaks first in Egypt. Chaldea goes well back. Then 
follow in order Assyria, the conqueror of Chaldea, 
Media and Babylonia parting Assyria between them, 
Persia mastering and absorbing both. 

^ Weber's quaint conceit of China as tarrying in the vestibule of 
civiHzation suggests a very important fact. Isolation and stag- 
nation of China have passed into proverlj. A fair illustration of 
isolation is furnished by Chinese invention, e. g\, printing, so 
closely guarded that West had to invent all over again. Perrot 
& Chipiez : Hist. Art in An. Egypt, Int. XLIX, have suggestive 
comment : "Our intellects are quite equal to imagining what 
the world would have been like had that Empire been abso- 
lutely destroyed centuries ago, with all its art, literature, and 
material wealth. Rightly or wrongly, we should not expect 
such a catastrophe to have had any great effect upon civiliza- 
tion ; we should have been the poorer by a few beautiful plates 
and vases, and should have had to go without tea, and that 
would have been the vSum of our loss," 

^ Not that there had not been much intercourse between India 
and the West. Assyrian, Persian, and Greek in turn carried 
conquest into valley of Indus. Trade caravans came and went. 
Spices, metals, precious woods, jewels— treasure of many kinds 
was furnished by India to rest of world. In this, however, India 
was simply furnishing raw material for Egyptian, Assyrian, 
and Phoenician industries. The Hindu literature is rich. The 
Hindu mind was acute. How could it be otherwise with the 
Hindu an Aryan? But Aryan presently sank into life of 
Turanian, and only in recent centuries has new Aryan impulse 
re-awakened India. 

2 Parthiacame afterward to be for a time (250 B. C.-214 A. D.) 
a great empire. It had little lasting effect, however, and gave 
way to the later Persian Empire. 

* Syria from its position a battle-ground. Whether to Egypt, 



4 THE FIRST GREAT NATIONS. 

the Babylonian Group, or the Western world, it was bound to 
be a dependency. 

^The Jew by his religion — i. Judaism; 2. Christianit}' — has 
exercised such marked influence upon the world that we are 
in danger of overestimating importance of the Jewish State. 
Jewish political life offers little to commend it, either for strength 
or for beauty. As a trader, the Jew has never been a negligi- 
ble, factor. 

^ What the Jew did by his religion the Phoenician did by his 
skill in the arts, navigation, trade, and by his development of 
the alphal)et. For centuries the Phoenicians were the recog- 
nized merchants, navigators, and explorers. Politically, how- 
ever, Phoenicia was more important in its colonies than in the 
mother country. One has only to recall Carthage to understand 
this, liut Carthage came afterward, in the Roman period. 

^ History, of course, finds main interests in states marked by 
progress, development. 

SEC. 3. EGYPT. 

Egyptian civilization was the oldest in the world. It 
was so old that we are unable to say with complete as- 
surance when it began. All the old nations were fond 
of believing themselves sprung from the gods. There 
is a mythical period in Egyptian chronology. Passing 
this we find the name and work of Menes.^ Before 
Menes there had been two Egypts,'' Upper and Lower. 
Menes united them, earning the double crown. From 
Menes date twenty-six dynasties, ending with the con- 
quest of the country by the Persian Cambyses 525 B. C. 
Enormous difficulties confront every attempt to reduce 
Egyptian chronology to working order. ^ The sequence 
of events is settled. Dates and details are everywhere 
unclear. 

Egyptian civilization seems to have been developed 
by a people who came from the North;* quite possibly 
the same people that made the beginnings of Chaldea. 



THE FIRST GREAT NATIONS. 5 

They settled^ in the lower valley of the Nile and worked 
upstream. Very early the country was divided into 
nomes/ each with its own capital, governor, and rela- 
tively complete government. Of course, all bowed to 
the king. Many of Egypt's troubles arose from feuds 
between nomes, and several dynasties thereby suffered 
enforced change. The dynasties fall conveniently into 
four tables: 

I. The Memphite^ Kingdom. Dynasties I-X. 
II. First Theban Kingdom. Dynasties XI-XII. 

III. The Hyksos. Dynasties XIII-XVII. 

IV. Second Theban Kingdom. Dynasties XVIII- 

XXVI. 

^ Menes. The great diversity of opinion as to date of Menes 
suggests the danger of speaking too positively as to early details 
in history of Egypt. Dates are assigned Menes as follows : 

Marritto, 5004 B. C 

Lenormant, 5004 B. C. 

Brugscli Bey, 4400 B. C 

Lepsius, 3892 B. C. 

Bunsen, 3059 B. C. 

Poole, 2717 B. C. 

Wilkinson, 2691 B. C. 

^ The two Egypts doubtless only remnants of many princi- 
palities little by little consolidated. 

^ Diversity due to : 

1. Absence of chronological idea in Egyptian. Suffi- 

ciently near fact to reckon from reigning sovereign. 

2. Sovereigns now known to have been contemporaneous 

listed as if they were consecutive. This Manetho's 
great fault. 

3. Even Manetho's account damaged in transmission. 
* Egyptian was Cushite. 

^ Lower Nile settled first. Oldest monuments are there. Marks 
of comparative newness as one goes upstream. 

^ Nomes recognized as earl}^ as IVth dynasty. There were at 
least 42 in all, 22 in Upper Egypt, 20 in Lower. The nomes bore 



O THE FIRST GRKAT NATIONS. 

such names as the Nome of the Hare, the Gazelle, the Haunch, 
the Harpoon, the Bull. 

^ So-called Memphite period saw political center displaced as 
early as Vlth dynasty by tendency toward Thebes, where rule 
was established beyond question at end of Dynasty X. 



SEC. 4. THE GREAT RULERS AND THEIR WORKS. 

About Menes we know little except that he founded 
the Egyptian State. Perhaps that is glory enough. 
After Menes, for many years we have only names. 
With Senoferu of the Hid dynasty we get definite in- 
formation. Stones carved in his day give the king's 
titles of honor and tell how this king, by conquest ' of 
tribes about Mt. Sinai, won the right to be called 
' ' Vanquisher of a foreign people. ' ' The pyramid near 
Meidoum is supposed to beSenoferu's tomb '. But the 
great pyramid-builders^ belonged to the IVth dynasty. 
The three chief were Khufu, Khafra, and Menkaura. 
Under this dynasty the older history of Egypt reached 
its greatest glor}^ The political organization was com- 
plete. Art was greatly advanced. The science of living 
was, so to speak, established. Dynasties V-X fell in 
troublous times. We hear of rebellion and civil war. 
The Arabian territory won by the " Vanquisher of a 
foreign people" was lost. The boundaries in Africa 
were slightly contracted.* Memphis waned while 
Thebes grew to headship. Dynasties XI-XII were 
Theban. Their sway was brief but brilliant. Egypt 
was again united and glorious. Great public works 
were accomplished. The Moeris dates here.^ Art and 
architecture were encouraged . The Labyrinth '^ and the 
grotto tombs of Beni-Hassan were built. Industrial 
arts were practiced. Commerce throve. Dynasties 
XIII-XVII rest in shadow. This is the period of the 



the: first grp:at nations. 7 

Hyksos/ Dynasty XVIII saw independence again 
won and national power, culture, and wealth raised to 
highest point they ever reached in Egypt. Civil admin- 
istration was strong. Military organization was per- 
fected, and the warrior became the mighty man of the 
empire. The Hyksos invasion was avenged upon Asia.*^ 
The boundaries of Egypt were greatl}^ enlarged. 
Thothmes III was the greatest ruler of his time. His 
son and successor pressed Asia still further, capturing 
Nineveh. The line forcibl}^ changed with Dynasty 
XIX, but violence was legitimated b}" success and by 
intermarriage with the deposed line. This dynasty is 
memorable by the name of Seti I and, more yet, by that 
of Rameses II, the greatest figure in Egyptian history, 
both as warrior and as builder. Again the shadow falls. 
Dynasties XX-XXVI sat upon shifting thrones. The 
usurpation of the high priest of Thebes, who fails in 
Egypt, but establishes a kingdom in Ethiopia ; feuds of 
nomarchs, with resulting anarchy ; an Ass3Tian or 
Babylonian dj^nasty ; Ethiopian dominion ; Greek in- 
fluence; war, disorder, weakness, dependence, glimpses 
of the old order, then again chaos ; — so the programme 
is filled until Camb3'ses leads his Persians down and 
Eg3''pt becomes a province of the Great King, who pres- 
ently must yield all to Greece and Rome. 

^The Eg3'ptians called the Ara])iaii country "the land of 
emptiness." They, however, found good store of mineral, 
metal, and precious stone in southern part of peninsula. 

■■^The pyramid was a royal tomh. The building began at ac- 
cession of sovereign .-ind continued throughout reign — the longer 
the reign, the bigger the tomb. Khufu's is good illustration 
and example. Inside spongy limestone, ready at hand. Next 
covering better stone from quarries in range of Mokattam. 
Outside stone from Suan (Greek Syene), where the " red moun- 
tain " still stands. This stone is granite sprinkled with black 



8 THE FIRSI" GiRKAl' NATIONS. 

and red, and hard as iron, taking beautiful polish. According 
to Herodotus, it took ten years to quarry the stone for Khufu's 
pyramid, and twice ten more to complete the building. More 
than 70 pyramids once rose on margin of desert. Greater num- 
ber now destroyed— an irreparable loss. 

^Dimensions of pyramids, in round figures: 

1. Kliufu, 450 feet in height, 746 feet base. 

2. Kliafra, 447 feet in height, 690 feet base. 

3. Menkaura, 203 feet in height, 352 feet base. 
* Nubia was lost. 

» Moeris was great public work, an artificial lake, to contiol 
the water supply. 

^Labyrinth was tomb. Consisted of building 1,150 feet by 
850 feet, surrounding three sides of a court-yard, whose fourth 
side was occupied by pyramid, and said to contain 3,000 cham- 
bers. 

^ Hyksos were from Asia, and that is about all we know. It 
was during their control of Egypt that Hebrew sojourn took 
place. Quite possibly kinship had something to do with favor- 
able reception of Hebrew. 

^War waged on Asia undoubtedly included element of re- 
venge. The Egyptians speak in connection with their invasion 
of " washing their hearts." 



SEC. 5. CHALDEA. 

Chaldean civilization was built upon the ' ' made ' ' 
land of the lower Euphrates.^ A Cushite people laid 
the foundations. The first date we really know^ in 
Chaldean history is 2295 B. C. Cities of Ur, Nipour, 
Sippara, Babylon grew up along the Euphrates, the 
movement following the course of the river, as was 
natural. Political headship moved up the river, too, 
lodging finally in Babylon. Elamite dominion,'' estab- 
lished by Chedorlaomer, lasted apparently about two 
centuries. Deliverance came by hand of Hammurabi, 
who expelled the Elamites and welded the scattered 
principalities into a kingdom, with Babylon as the cap- 



THE FiRvST GREAT NATIONS. 9 

ital . Semitic influences grew in strength . An Arabian 
line of kings indicates that Cushite was giving way to 
Shemite. The end came about 1500 B. C. Three 
names are of special note in Chaldean history : i, Nim- 
rod the founder ;^ 2, Urukh the builder ;^ 3, Chedor- 
laomer the conqueror/' 

^ Note alluvial plain extending beyond site of Babylon. 

'^ Assurbanipal took Susa, capital of old E)lam, 660 B. C. He 
records this event as taking place 1635 years after the king of 
Elani conquered Babylon. 

^ Quite possibly Elamite conquest of Chaldea set in motion 
the hordes farther West. Hyksos invasion of Egypt may be 
related thus to El am. 

*Nimrod founded Ur, Erech, Accad, Bab3don, Calneli. 

^Urukh's buildings were mainly temples. Angles faced car- 
dinal points. Dedicated to Sun, Moon, and various divinities. 

** For notice of Chedorlaonier see Gen., ch. XIV. 



SEC. 6. ASSYRIA. 

The founders of Assyria seem to have gone upstream 
from Lower Mesopotamia ; how long before failure of 
Chaldea we do not know. Whether they were forced 
to go, or simply allowed to go, we do not know. 
Whether it was a national migration or a filtering 
through of individuals we do not know. The new 
kingdom was subject to Chaldea. Presently Assyrian 
independence was accomplished, and the two kingdoms 
flourished side by side. Presently the shadow falls. 
When it lifts again Chaldea is down, Assyria is up.^ 
From middle of 14th century B. C. record is tolerably 
clear. It is the old story of outlying territory forever 
conquered and forever in revolt. Through all, how- 
ever, Assyrian influence was extended. Even the half 
century of Babylonian preeminence, 1060-1020 B. C, 



lO THE FIRST GREAT NATIONS. 

serves only to accentuate Ass3^rian greatness before and 
after. Shalmaneser III,' Tiglath-Pileser II, Sargon, 
Sennacherib, .Esarhaddon, and Assurbanipal are its 
best representatives. Their prowess made the Assyrian 
name a name of terror throughout the world. The 
Assyrian dominion actually extended from India to 
Egypt. '^ In the 7th centur}^ B. C. the Empire seemed 
indestructible. But the end was near. Scythian in- 
undation, Median invasion, Babylonian revolt did the 
work. The last Ass3'rian monarch resisted while he 
could, then set fire to his palace, losing at once king- 
dom, treasure, and life, 625 B. C. 

^ Assyrian independence perhaps due to Egypt. Thothnies III 
struck Asia hard. Chaldea would feel blow most, and may have 
been compelled thereby to loose hold on northeru possessions. 

■^ Shalmaneser III, 782-772 B. C, spent most of reign fighting. 
Tiglath-Pileser II, 744-726 B. C. was a usurper, but a powerfnl 
monarch and successful ruler. Sargon, 721-704 B. C., a usurper, 
easily ranks with two or three greatest names of Assyrian his- 
tory for achievement both in war and in peace. Sennacherib, 
704-6S0 B. C, reigned gloriously, but met death by assassination. 
Esarhaddon, 680-667 B- C. earned title, " King of Assyria, Baby- 
lon, Egypt, Meroe, and Ethiopia." Assurbanipal, 667-647 B. C, 
saw Assyrian power at highest. In addition to triumphs as war- 
rior and builder, he is renowned as only Assyrian monarch with 
real taste for learning. The world owes him great honor for his 
library at Nineveh. 

^ Assyrian Empire at largest exercised lordship from India to 
the vEgean, including the wide sweep southward necessary to 
include Egypt. 

SEC. 7. MEDIA. 

Media is important as a connecting link. She w^as 
co-heritor of the A.ssyrian domain. Media is important, 
too, as introducing a new factor into the struggle for 
power. The Mede was Aryan. Egypt and Chaldea were 



THE FIRST GREAT NATIONS. II 

Cusliite. Assyria was Shemite. Now the three great 
Caucasian families are fairly in the field. The Mede 
first appears in Assyrian annals about the middle of the 
9th century B.C., though there seems to be good reason 
for accepting a wide expansion earlier. More than pos- 
sibly Mede and Elamite were one and the same man. 
Howbeit, Assyria conquered the Medes in the days of the 
great Sargon.' After three-quarters of a century, under 
Cyaxares and aided by the Babylonians, they threw off 
the Assyrian yoke. Cyaxares was a great fighter, but 
not a great statesman." The Empire he founded lasted 
less than the lifetime of a man. Two reigns fill the pe- 
riod — Cyaxares, forty years; Astyages,'^ twenty-seven. 
Media was shortest-lived of all the great Oriental mon- 
archies, 625-558 B. C. It fell to Persia, a former de- 
pendency grown to power and mastery. 

^Sarj^on 721-704 B. C 

■^ Cyaxares was brave, ambitious, aiul able. The fact that he 
could head the conquest of Assyria reveals his ability as a war- 
rior. As a statesman he ranks lower. He could conquer, but 
he could not organize. 

•^ Astyages was no abler than his father as a ruler. As a gen- 
eral he was less able. The element of permanence for the 
Empire is in nowise promised in the character of either of the 
only two rulers it had. 

SEC. 8. BABYLONIA. 

Babylon has had large place in world's life^ ever 
since Nimrod laid its fotindations, in the old Chaldean 
days. Different eras must be kept in mind. By Baby- 
lonia'"^ we mean the kingdom that jointly with Media 
inherited' the spoils of Assyria. The beginning of 
Babylonia was made in the treachery of Nabopolassar. 
Bound by political and domestic ties* to Media, Baby- 



J 2 THE FIRST GREAT NATIONS. 

Ion sent aid to Cyaxares in his wars with Lydia. Peace 
was established largely through intervention of Baby- 
lon/ and Western Asia for once had peace. Egypt, 
however, w^as on the move. The aged Psammeticus 
died, and his son and successor, Necho, laid hand upon 
the entire territory between Egypt and the Euphrates. 
Nabopolassar himself did nothing, but after three years 
sent his son Nebuchadnezzar to punish Egypt. The 
attempt was successful. The Egyptians fled in confu- 
sion, and Nebuchadnezzar would have fought it out in 
Egypt had he not been recalled by his father's death. 
Nebuchadnezzar is the great name of Babylonian his- 
tory. The end came at the hand of Persia, closing an 
empire of eighty-seven years, 625-538 B. C. 

^ Eveu now Bab3'loii impresses the mind as something vast 
and mysterious. The very greatness of its ruin holds one. 

■•^Babylonia is otherwise called the Second Chaldean Mon- 
archy. 

•* Media took Mesopotaniian plain down to alluvial line and 
all that lay east and north of the Tigris. This left to Babylonia 
the plain southward to the Gulf and westward of the Euphrates 
to the Sea. 

* Nebuchadnezzar, son of Nabopolassar, was married to daugh- 
ter of Cyaxares. 

= During battle between Medes and Lydians an eclipse of the 
sun took place. The terrified combatants readily listened to 
proposals for an armistice, which was soon followed by peace, 
in securing which Babylonian ruler played important part. 

•^ Nebuchadnezzar bu ilt the great wall of Babylon, dug canals, 
constructed the Hanging Gardens, built quays and breakwaters 
along Persian Gulf, His military exploits were both numerous 
and important. 

SEC. 9. PERSIA. 

Persian dominion dates from fall of Media, 558 B. C. 
Independence was won by Cyrus,' a prince of the Pasar- 



THE FIRST GREAT NATIONS. 1 3 

gadj£, the noblest of the three ruUng Persian tribes. 
Persian power rapidly widened. Lydia was conquered. 
The Greek cities on the coast of Asia Minor submitted. 
Lycia and Cilicia followed. Then came Babylon, 538 
B. C. When Cyrus died, 529 B. C, the Persian Em- 
pire was the greatest the world had seen.' His son. 
Cambyses,' succeeded to the throne. Under him the 
Empire was increased by conquest of Egypt, 525 B. C. 
Darius,' son of Hystaspes, his successor, had to re- 
conquer the empire from an impostor, who gave him- 
self out as the brother of Cambyses, whom Cambyses 
had really put to death before going to Egypt . Victory 
won through superhuman struggle brought peace. 
Darius used his opportunity in internal improvements. 
For administration h^ divided the empire into satra- 
pies.^ Within the satrapy local institutions were scru- 
pulously preserved. Taxation was regularized. Roads 
were built. Posts were established. Commerce was 
encouraged. Uniform gold and silver coinage was in- 
troduced. Seven years were spent in the gigantic task 
of organization." Then the fire of battle flamed up 
anew in Darius. All that was to be reached in Asia 
was already at his feet. Europe should be made part 
of the Persian Empire. So began the campaign against 
the Scythians and later against Greece, which brought 
the civihzation of East and West face to face. The 
meeting meant conflict, but with the Persian Empire at 
his back Darius could not foresee Marathon and Plataea 
and Salamis, still less Issus and Arbela. 

1 Cyrus had been reared at the Median court. 

^Embraced Persia, Susiana, Babylonia, Assyria, Arabia, 
Egypt, Ionia, Media, Armenia, Parthia, Bactria, with many 
less important holdings. 

3Camb3^ses was brave and energetic, but passionate and cruel. 

^Darius had as helpers the recognized heads of the seven 



14 THE FIRST GREAT NATIONS. 

great Persian families existing at the time or powerful enough 
naturally to assume leadership. 

^Satrapies were governmental subdivisions of the Empire, 
each under a satrap or civil ruler, a commandant or military 
ruler, the two supposed to watch each other, and a secretary 
supposed to watch them both. The satrapial government was 
despotic, the only check being the pleasure of tlie King. 

"Darius, though less great than Cyrus as a general, was 
greater even than he as an administrator. The greatness of 
Persia was chiefly due to his many-sided genius. 



SEC. lO. GEOGRAPHICAL GROUPING. 

River valley and highland played significant parts 
in the formation of the first great nations. Civilization 
developed first on the plain, where life was easy. The 
delta was the physical foundation of Egypt. The allu- 
vial plain of the Euphrates was the home of Chaldean 
achievement. The Indus, the Ganges, and the Yang- 
tse-Kiang would tell the same story for the primitive 
civilizations of India and China. In Egypt and the 
Babylonian group the trend, was upward, following 
the valley. New impulse and mastery came from the 
high ground. The descent of the Shepherds upon 
Eg3^pt, the conquest of the Babylonian group by Elam- 
ite, Mede, and Persian are examples. A great nursery 
of nations lay toward the center of Asia. There nations 
were born and gathered strength until pressure of num- 
bers or awakening life forced them out. That they 
should according to their ability take possession of the 
fields of civilization was perhaps only natural. "Doubt- 
less the world is better off for the mountain coming to 
the plain. A fatal tendency toward stagnation shows 
everywhere on the low ground. As long as there are 
hardier men within reach, the low ground must respond 
to their quickening or give way before them. The 



THE FIRST GREAT NATIONS. 1 5 

Mede beat the Assyrian because he was simpler and 
braver and harder. The Persian beat the Mede be- 
cause he was the simpler and braver and harder. Do- 
minion passed from East to West because the West was 
better fitted than the East, both to fight and to rule. 
The fact cannot be without meaning that the centers 
of empire have tended toward the higher latitudes. 

SEC. II. GENERAL CHARACTER OF CIVILIZATION. 

Civilization is a comprehensive word. It covers eco- 
nomic, social, intellectual, moral, and political ground. 
Its two dominant notes are progress and development. 
It is no eas}^ task to characterize the civilization of the 
East. The principal marks, however, cannot be mis- 
taken: 

1. It was a work in which, save in China,' onl}' the 
Caucasian family took part. 

2. In that work all three"^ groups of that family par- 
ticipated. 

3. Family relationship was indicated by usages held 
in common, evidently not independent inventions. 

4. It was marked by perpetual movement and con- 
quest.'^ 

5. It enjo3'ed a high degree of material comfort. 

6. It exhibited enormous social disproportion. 

7. Its intellectual and esthetic life was highly devel- 
oped wnthin limited sphere. 

8. It moved within the moral limits imposed by a 
religion elevated by belief in supreme Deity but de- 
based by polytheism and gross idolatry. 

9. It made the king the master, who was counted 
good when his hand was heav^^ 

10. It lacked all sense of the value of the individual, 
hence knew nothing of real libert}' . 



1 6 THE FIRvST GREAT NATlONvS. 

1 China Mongolian. 

■^Hamite, Shemite, Aryan. 

3 Recall war projects of Senofed, Thotlimes III, Ranieses II, 
Chedorlaomer, Shalmaneser III, Tiglath-Pileser IT, Sargon— 
indeed almost all the great names in Oriental history have their 
tale of military achievement. 

SEC. 12. INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT. 

We greatly mistake when we think Hghtly of the 
intellectual life of the first great nations. In Egypt as 
early as the Vlth dynasty there was a court librarian, 
the Governor of the House of Books. The Book of 
the Dead ^ indicates the high development of religious 
literature. Secular documents prove Egyptian attain- 
ments in history and geography by no means despic- 
able. The oldest specimens of romance writing are 
furnished by Egypt. Geometry and astronomy were 
cultivated. The pyramids set to the points of the com- 
pass, the divisions of the year into months and days '' 
like our own, and a score of arts like glass-making, 
enameling, encaustic painting, pottery, are a standing 
argument against our thinking meanly of the men of 
the Nile. The record of the Babylonian group is 
scarcely less favorable. Brick is not as durable as 
stone, so that doubtless many Mesopotamian documents 
have been lost. Still we have much. I^ayard found 
the library "^ of King Assurbanipal in Nineveh complete 
but for tablets broken by collapse of building. Math- 
ematical sciences had progressed far. Astronomy was 
so advanced in Chaldean priesthood* that even eclipses 
could be foretold. Farther East, India worked out 
algebra and the decimal notation, and among the useful 
arts steel-making. Still farther East, China invented 
printing, gunpowder, and the compass, showing an in- 
tellectual activity and creativeness long since wanting. 



TPIR FIRST GREAT NATIONS. 17 

' Book of Dead is both history and ritual. Describes passage 
of soul to jud^tnent. Many parts are incredibly stupid, but 
now and again one finds teaching startlingly Christian in spirit 
and expression. 

2 Day and night 12 hours each ; noon and midnight at sixth 
hour respectively. 

^ Ivibrary consisted of tablets impressed while clay was soft, 
and then baked. Many characters are so minute as to need 
magnif^dng glass. 

* "The ancient Mesopotamian astronomers were far in ad- 
vance of the Egyptian ; they had accomplished all that was 
possible without the aid of optical instruments. They had suc- 
ceeded in ascertaining the moon's daily motion, and they chiefly 
measured their time by her course, foretelling her eclipses by 
the period of 22 lunations, with which they were acquainted. 
The earliest known date of a recorded calculation, March to, 
721 B. C, is due to them, and their calculations vary from ours 
only by a few minutes. They were less successful in calculating 
the more difficult eclipses of the sun. Indeed, they seem not to 
have ventured to predict them, but contented themselves with 
observing and registering them. They invented the dial, and 
were the first to divide the day into 24 hours, the hour into 60 
minutes, the minute into 60 seconds. Their great periods of 
time were traced on this system." lyenormant. 



SEC. 13. ART. 

In the East Art has always been chiefly the handmaid 
of religion or of adoration of royalty. Painting and 
sculpture were subordinate to architecture. Material 
and mechanical construction were mastered as seldom 
since. Five thousand years have not availed to dim 
the color or weaken the pillar of Egypt. The domi- 
nant note of Egyptian art was massiveness, immensity, 
eternity. "The pyramid of Cheops is of all human 
monuments the oldest, the simplest, and the greatest," 
says Ampere, and the pyramid of Cheops speaks for all 
Egypt. The Mesopotamian region had no such build- 
3 



1 8 THE FIRST GREAT NATlONvS. 

ing wealth as Egypt, and they tried to make up by use 
of precious metals. Brick faced with stone, wood' 
overlaid with silver and gold — with these the men of 
Mesopotamia wrought, rearing enormous palaces and 
temples. One marked characteristic on both Euphrates 
and Tigris is elevation of buildings. Structures were 
set on mounds or platforms.' For adornment sculpture 
was used everywhere. Painting was used somewhat, 
especially encaustic painting in Babylon. Sculpture 
was Assyria's especial excellence. Representation of 
human figure was faulty through lack of knowledge.^ 
In reproduction of inanimate and animal forms Assyrian 
sculpture was not surpassed even by best product of 
Greek art. Persian art was composite, showing influ- 
ence of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Greece. 

In general, the art of the first great nations was 
marked by : 

1. Exaggerated striving after fidelity. So only can 
be explained the extra leg of lion or bull. 

2. Lack of perspective. 

3. Conventionality. 

1. In profile eye as in full face. 

2. Eimbs in profile while figure may face front. 

3. In Egypt left foot in advance. 

4. Size for dignity or power, massiveness for 

duration. 

5. Union of brute and human, e. ^., Sphinx, 

eagle-headed man, man-faced lion or bull. 

4. Failure outside of Egypt to recognize individuality. 

5. Inferiority outside of Egypt in treatment of hu- 
man in comparison with animal forms. 

' To frailty of pillars we largely owe Assyrian retnains. The 
pillars broke, letting down the roof, so shutting up collection 
from incessant pillaging. 



THE FIRST GREAT NATIONS. I9 

- The elevation of Babylonian structures seems to have served 
at once the purposes of ambition, defense, and observation of 
the heavens. 

^ Handling of human figure in Babylonian group to the last 
heavy. Diflference between Babylonian and E^gyptian art in this 
due to a difference in dress. The human form was familiar to 
the Egyptian artist. Not so in Mesopotamia. 



SEC. 14. INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE. 

Agriculture' was of course developed, as needs must 
be the case with settled life everywhere. Irrigation"^ was 
largely practiced. Handcraft of many kinds was car- 
ried on. Champollion enumerates for Egypt, wood and 
stone working, sculpture, architecture, carpenter- work, 
quarrying, the potter's art, currying, leather-dressing, 
shoemaking, spinning, weaving, glass-blowing, and the 
arts of the goldsmith, the jeweler, and the blacksmith. 
In Chaldea and Assyria the people were greatly skilled 
in many manual arts. Babylonian embroidery was 
celebrated for centuries. In the manufacture of furni- 
ture, jewelry, articles of dress, carpets, brick, porcelain, 
and all enamel ware the Mesopotamian peoples were 
well advanced. 

Industry and trade are likely to be found together. 
In spite of his traditional contempt for the stranger, 
the Egyptian did not hesitate to trade with him. The 
great middlemen were the Phoenicians. Egypt sold 
wheat and cloth. Arabia furnished incense. India 
furnished spices and precious stones. Nineveh and 
Babylon were on the high road of the caravans which 
bore back and forth the products of the Mediterranean 
countries and the East. Even the British Isles early 
paid tribute to Eastern commerce. 

All this, however, hardly means that the first great 
nations were rich by modern standards. The bulk of 



20 THE FIRST GREAT NATIONS. 

the people were very poor. What there was the King 
had. The overflow made courtiers rich. Below, the 
people lived as best they could, fairly coutent if the 
hand of the master left them life at all. 

^ Egypt lias always been a marvel of fertility. Mesopotamia 
is now a ruined land, withered under the curse of bad govern- 
ment, but it, too, was once a garden. 

2 We are in danger of forgetting the works of irrigation in the 
past. Public works matched only by the greatest modern un- 
dertakings were in operation. Recall Lake Moeris and the 
canals about Babylon. 

SEC. 15. RELIGION. 

There is a large element of nature worship ^ in all the 
religions of the East. But probably everywhere in the 
last analysis nature is regarded as symbolic. Sun, light, 
fire, water, the sky, the powers of reproduction — in 
these the beneficent, creative, and life-giving powers 
of divinity were .seen, at least, by those who thought 
much. So, too, night and .storm and cold and death 
were accounted the work of evil divinities. An echo 
of a voice speaking of a Supreme Being'^ can be heard 
in Egypt, in Mesopotamia, and in the highlands of Iran, 
but it remains an echo, except as it finds unmistakable 
expression in the Jew. Mainly the faith of the first 
great nations was polytheistic, descending at times prac- 
tically to fetichism. Dualism was only a special form 
of polytheism. The belief in immortality,'^ at least for 
the good, with rewards and penalties in a future world, 
is everywhere apparent. 

^Nature Worship was universal in the Old World, and is 
inevitable whenever men allow themselves to give form to 
Diviiiit}-. 

^ '• When we penetrate beneath the surface of gross polytheism 
it (religion) had acquired from popular superstition, and revert 



THE FIRST GRKAT NATIONS. 21 

to the original and higher conceptions, we shall find the whole 
based on the idea of the nnity of the Deity. . . . Beneath 
this supreme and sole God, this great All, in whom all things 
are lost and absorbed, are ranked in an order of emanation, 
corresponding to their importance, a whole race of secondary 
deities — emanations from his very substance— who are merely 
personifications of his attributes and manifestations. The dif- 
ferences between the various pagan religions -the same in prin- 
ciple — is chiefly marked by the differences between these sec- 
ondary divine personages and their reciprocal nature." Lenor- 
mant : Ancient Hist, of East. 

^ The ancient man believed in the immortality of the soul, 
and believed that the soul needed the body. Embalming was 
just the attempt to guarantee continuance to the body for the 
soul's sake. 



SEC. l6. MORALS. 

Ill the Old World religion as such made little demand 
upon the moral life. Man .should not cheat' the god, 
but cheating his fellow is another matter. Forms of 
worship must be vScrupulously observed, but personal 
purity does not necessarily count. Herein appears most 
patent weakness of old faith, the severance of faith and 
life. In addition must be noted certain moral defects 
grave enough by our standards, i. Absorption of en- 
tire national life and power in sovereign. Life and 
death of subject, whether one or a million, counted as 
nothing. Hence killing labor of public works ' and dis- 
regard of interests of the people'* in general. 2. Lack 
of appreciation of individual. World knew practically 
nothing of this until Greece. 3. Absence of all thought 
of racial unity. The man of another nation was an 
enemy. Obligation took account only of members 
within the group. Merciless slaughter or deportation 
as sequel of conquest result of this. 4. Moral law the 
voice of the stronger, and no expression of the moral 



22 THE FIRST GRKAT NATIONS. 

nature could not fail to be mechanical in operation. 
5. Excess reaching even to debauchery, partly under 
guise of religion. 

^ Under certain conditions one may, if possible, get the better 
of the god. Even so the god is under obligation to carry out 
the contract. The man who gets ahead of the god once, thongh, 
is likely to fare ill next time. 

' The secret of the gigantic public works of the Old World lay 
in the unlimited supply of material and labor. To this day in 
Egypt the male population of an entire village is sometimes 
summoned to do the ruler's bidding, and works without pay or 
provision for a week, two weeks, a month, until relieved by 
another impressed force. 

^ '* The Oriental will generally kiss the hand that smites him, 
if it only smite hard enough." 

SEC. 17. POLITICAL SPIRIT. 

The Turanian is casteless. Between the ruler, who 
is everything, and the subject, who is nothing, there 
can be no middle term. The Aryan brooks no absolute 
master,^ but recognizes differences of birth and circum- 
stance, marking those differences by gradations of aris- 
tocracy. The Semitic stands between Turanian and 
Aryan. Never sinking to level of despotism natural to 
Turanian, never reaching the free institutions natural 
to Aryan, the Semitic develops the patriarchal form of 
government in small communities, in large communities 
a kingship with a strong theocratic ^ bias. These traits 
appear in the first great nations. By the Nile and by 
the Euphrates and Tigris, Cushite origin is manifest. 
Assyria was Semitic, but Cushite influence was still 
mighty there, inherited from Chaldea. In Persia a new 
spirit appears. The organization was far from the 
modern conception of limited monarchy. In quite new 
degree, however, people joined king in rule. As Dun- 



'THK KlRvST CRKAT nations. 23 

cker says, " Every one, even the meanest Persian, felt 
that he had a share in the government of Asia." 

Still this is only a foregleam. In general, everything 
bears the Oriental cast of political incapacity. The 
great physical bulk called empire was simply an aggre- 
gation of conquered peoples — no cohesion, no organiza- 
tion, no common interest, no sympathy. Assyria is first 
" kingdom empire." ^ Persia is great example of sa- 
trapial government.* Even under best organization 
conceived by Old World, order was maintained only at 
cost of perpetual reconquest. As yet international ob- 
ligations are unrecognized except as enforced by the 
sword ; constitutional government is an impossible con- 
ception 

^ Persia and Russia are both Aryan and both are absohite. 
Is there Hny explanation of this? 

'^ Both Jew and Mohammedan are theocratic. 

^Assyria was earHest example of State sufficiently engaged in 
conquest of varied peoples to make this feature prominent. Of 
course, Egypt had some subject peoples. 

^Satrapial government as an attempt at organization accom- 
plished its purpose by imposing a new rule upon all the old 
rules which were still maintained. It was more effective in 
theory than in practice, but was important as movement toward 
real centralization. 

SEC. 18. I.KGACY OF EAST TO WEST. 

One thing needs to be repeated often. The men of 
the East were men of like needs and passions and 
efforts with ourselves. We may do better than they, 
because we know better. But they had no one to tell 
them what we know. Indeed, we know largely be- 
cause they have helped us to find out. They stopped 
far below our level,' but if we were compelled to start 
where they did, it is not certain that we should have 



24 I'HK THIRST GRRAT NATIONS. 

gone faster or farther than the}- .^ It is easier to im- 
prove than to invent.^ When we sum up our debt to 
the past, defective as our knowledge of the past is, we 
find a Hst neither short nor unimportant. Egypt gave 
much. Through Greek philosophers * Eg3^pt has spoken 
to the later world. Handcraft was practiced in every 
direction and was ready to be passed, though it is 
doubtful whether as much came from this direction as 
from Asia. The use of stone in building, and the 
arch and the Doric column Egypt gave. The East 
bequeathed much. To name only the most common, 
the division of time, the w^eek of seven days, the sun- 
dial, astronomy, coinage, weights and measures, ele- 
ments of religion, sculpture, philosoph}^ metallurgy, 
ceramics, smith's work, glass-making, weaving, em- 
broidery, stone-working, carving, navigation, and; most 
precious gift of all, the alphabet.^ 

^ "All the different members of this great famil}' (Turanian) 
have had very striking features in common, — the most extraor- 
dinary being an incapability of reaching the highest culture, of 
progressing indefinitel}', improving continually. A strange law 
of their being seems to have condemned them to stop short 
when they had attained a certain, not very advanced, stage." 
Ragozin. 

- Still it was on the basis of Turanian beginnings that Shemite 
and Aryan have built. We have been enabled to go fast partly 
because they were able to go at all. 

^ Greek art and Greek industry are full of survivals. 

* Greek philosophy learned much from Egypt. Pythagoras, 
Thales, Solon, Deniocritus, and Plato were influenced ])y the 
teachings of Egyptian priests. Apparently the last two actually 
visited Egypt. 

^ Progress toward verbal expression moved through four great 
stages when the goal was reached by the Phoenician, i. The 
picture of the thing itself 2. The picture standing for a quality 
of the thing. 3. A sign for an entire syllable. 4. A sign for 
each element of articulation. 



CHAPTER IL 



Greece. 



SEC. I. THE I.AND. 

Every foot of the land of Greece was a guarantee 
against the bulk, the uniformity, and the inevitable 
stagnation of the old empires/ Shut in by the Cam- 
bunian mountains^ on the north, where lay the base of 
the triangle; washed east and west by the ^gean and 
the Ionian seas along the sides, sloping southwards to 
the blunt apex of I^aconia, the internal arrangement of 
mountain, valley, plain, and shore ' laid geographical 
foundation for infinite variety of industrial and political 
development/ Soil and climate were favorable alike 
to frugality and diligence. On the basis of clearly 
marked physical divisions were built up distinct political 
divisions,' aiding local independence, but fatally oppos- 
ing national unity/ The islands, each a division by 
itself, exhibited the same tendency. 

' " The Euphrates and the Nile from year to year offer the 
same advantages to the population on their banks and regulate 
Its occupations in a constant monotony, which makes it possi- 
ble for centuries to pass over the land without any change tak- 
ing place in the essential habits of the lives of its inhabitants. 
Revolutions occur, but no development, and, mummy-like, the 
civilization of the Egyptian stagnates, enshrouded in the val- 
ley of the Nile : they count the monotonous beats of the pendu- 
lum of time, but time contains nothing for them ; they possess 

4 (25) 



26 GREECE. ■ 

a chronology, but uo liistor}^ in the full sense of the word. 
Such a death-hi-life is not permitted by the flowing waves of the 
^^gean, which, as soon as commerce and mental activity have 
been once awakened, unceasingly continues and develops 
them." Curtius : History of Greece, I, 15. 

2 Even in modern warfare the mountain plays a by no means 
unimportant part. In the old days a mountain barrier was a 
nation's best defense. Greece was exceptionally well protected. 
Five lines of easy defense were provided by physical conforma- 
tion of country : i. Vale of Tempe ; 2, Mount Othrys ; 3, Ther- 
mopylae ; 4, Cithseron and Parnes ; 5, The Isthmus. 

^ Greece is smaller than Portugal. So indented is it, however, 
that its shoreline is longer than that of the entire Spanish 
peninsula. No other country in the world exhibits such dis- 
proportion between land area and coast. 

* " If we scrutinize the map of Greece a little more closely 
we are struck with the remarkable indentations of its coast and 
with the extraordinary variety of its surface ; broken up and 
moulded by mountains, hills, and plains ; diversified by rivers 
traversing it in every direction ; marked off into strongly dis- 
criminated physical divisions, producing every conceivable di- 
versity of circumstance and influence under which the spirit of 
man may l>e traiued to play its part on the mortal scene." 
Felton : Greece, I, 273. 

"The principal divisions were Thessaly, I^ocris, Bceotia, 
Phocis, Doris, ^tolia, Acharnania, Attica, Megaris, Achaia, 
Elis, Argolis, Arcadia, I^aconia, and Messenia. 

^To the last particularism was the curse of Greek political 
life. 



SEC. 2. THE PEOPLE. 

Five questions press : i . Who were the people we 
call Greeks? 2. Whence came they? 3. How did. 
they regard themselves ? 4. How did they come into 
their new home ? 5. What culture had they when they 
came? So far as we know or may safely conjecture, 
answer may be made as follows : r . A group of the 
great Aryan family, near of kin to the peoples ^ stretch- 



GREECE. 27 

iiig ill Greek days from Phrygia to Sicily. 2. Ulti- 
mately from the old Aryan home somewhere in the heart 
of the double continent of Europe and Asia.^ 3. As 
Hellenes, sprung from Hellen,^ son of Deucalion. 4. 
Downward and westward through the mountain passes. 
They evidently bore many names and met greatly vary- 
ing fortunes. The Hellenic strain is the one that finally 
emerged, destined to make Greek history. 5. They 
were skilled in agriculture and cattle-breeding. They 
had leather-covered boats. They made cloth from bark 
and fiber, plaiting; later, weaving. They had store of 
pottery. Their religion was a nature worship. The 
basis of Hellenic kinship was in no sense geographical. 
Blood, religion, language — wherever a man had these 
he was a Hellene. 

1 Phrygians, Trojans, Thracians, Macedonians, lUyrians, Epi- 
rotes, ItaUans, Messapians, Chaonians, Oenotrians, Sicels, Sica- 
nians were principal members of list. 

2 We shall need not to forget that in successive migrations 
several groups of the Aryan family moved out, Hindu and Per- 
sian going far east, Celt, Pelasgian, Teuton, and Slav going west. 

3 The Hellenic family tree branches as follows : 

Hellen 



Dorus Xuthus ^olus 



Ion Achaeus 

Here we have provided with ancestors the four great divisions 
of the Greek race — the Dorians, the ^Eolians, the lonians, the 
Achaeans. 



28 GREECE. 

SEC. 3. FORMATIVE PERIOD. 

Our earliest view of Greece is given by literature. 
Myth and poem are not history, but from them we gain 
much reliable information.^ Greece, in the person of 
Theseus and Hercules and their like, fought beasts and 
bad weather and famine and savagery. Greece wrought 
out a settled life with social organization and kings and 
warlike enterprise. In those oldest days the strong man 
got what he wanted. All he had to do to prove that he 
was the son of a god was to act like one. In the days 
less old, but still very old, the individual learned to put 
a curb upon his will and to keep step with his fellows. 
Tribal life was still farther developed. The state ap- 
peared. Before Chseroneia one never can quite speak of 
the Greek state as if there had been a state of Greece. 
Greece was composed of a thousand states. Many were 
so little important that we do not know even their names. 
A few were, and still are, known over the whole world. 
All had much the same history'^ — migration, conquest, 
settlement, independence, with few exceptions unim- 
portance, in those few exceptions " brilliance, conflict 
with neighbors, leagues for worship,* divination,^ and 
sport," colonization where possible, individualism every- 
where. 

^ " Though up to this point we could not succeed in reaUzing 
a connected history of the Greek people, yet there exists a series 
of facts which nothing can overthrow, for they rest on the basis 
of consentaneous tradition, Hke the maritime dominion of 
Minos, or on monuments free from any ambiguity of meaning. 
For as surel}' as the fastnesses of Ilium, of Thebes and Or- 
chomenus, of Tiryns and Mycenae stand before our eyes to this 
day, so surely there once existed Dardanian, Minyan, Cadmean, 
and Argive princes and principaUties, as they are called in the 
myths." Curtius : Greece, I, 102. 



GREECE. ^ 29 

^ And much the same political and social limitations. The 
one common feature is the cleavage between citizen and subject. 
A powerful aristocracy and an enslaved populace are the two 
main items of every canvas in the political gallery of Greece. 

^ After Athens, Sparta, Thebes, and Corinth, how few names 
can be added ! 

* Political life in Greece began with an ideal unity mainly due 
to religion. This applied to larger sphere than single city. 
"The level which united neighboring Greek peoples consisted 
at first only of common worship, more especially of common 
sacrifices offered at certain shrines. These common religious 
rites had the effect of bringing the participant States into a cer- 
tain kind of political relation to one another." Holm : Greece, 
I, 227. Thus the temple of Poseidon, in the island of Calauria, 
was center of confederacy embracing Troizene, Hermione,Argos, 
Sparta, Epidaurus, ^55gina, Orchomenus, and Athens. The 
Amphictyonic League, first in temple of Demeter near Ther- 
mopylye, then at temple of Apollo at Delphi, united twelve 
peoples — Malians, Phthiotian Achoeans, Oetseans, Dalopes, 
Magnetes, Perrhoebi, Thessalians, Locrians, Dorians, Phocians, 
Boeotians, lonians. The Amphictyonic Council was a kind of 
armed board of arbitration for the States of the league, with 
power to whip in a recalcitrant member. 

^Of all the oracles, that of the Pythian Apollo at Delphi 
was by far the most important. 

^The Olympic games, celebrated every four years at Elis. 
The Pythian games, celebrated near Delphi every four years, 
falling on the third 3'ear of the Olympiad. The Nemean games, 
celebrated at Cleonae, in Argolis, every two years. The Isth- 
mian games, celebrated on the Isthmus of Corinth every two 
years. The immediate effect of these festivals was the exhibi- 
tion of the unity of the Greeks and their community of custom 
and interest, both physical and intellectual. 



SEC. 4. SPARTA. 

To the Dorian belongs the glor}^ of first developing 
political importance in Greece.^ The result appears in 
Sparta. As usual, myth and legend take the place of 



30 GREECE. 

history in the earhest period. With Lj'curgus we get 
upon comparatively solid ground. Henceforth the con- 
stitution of the Spartan State is unmistakable. Three 
classes of dwellers must be counted — Spartans, Perioeci, 
and Helots. Very likely all were Dorians of different 
age in the land. The Helot ^ was a serf, reduced to 
absolute subjection by conquest, better off than a slave 
pure and simple only because the State regarded him 
as belonging to it as well as to his master. The Pericecus 
stood between Helot and Spartan, quite possibly the 
representative of tribes that fought the newcomer hard 
enough to get some kind of terms. The Spartan was 
the lord of the land. Only eight or nine thousand in 
number, the Spartans constituted a standing army. 
The entire conception of the State forbade any citizen 
to think of himself. He was simply part of the State. 
Kings the State had, two^ in number, hereditary and 
useless. A senate it had — thirty old men. A popular 
assembly it had to vote yes or no on public business. 
The real rulers of Sparta w^ere the five Ephors, who, 
appointed by the assembly,* browbeat the senate and 
treated the kings as underlings.^ As a fighting ma- 
chine the Spartan State was a great success. The 
Spartan discovered his military value and insisted upon 
being led out to conquest. Laconia was mastered. 
Messenia fell. Argolis gave up the southern third of 
her territory. Elis acknowledged Spartan headship, as 
did several Arcadian cities. A Peloponnesian Amphic- 
tyony was formed, with Sparta, of course, at its head. 
The sway of Sparta in the Peloponnese was established 
beyond question. Meanwhile Athens had been winning 
headship of Attica . Conflict between Sparta and Athens 
was inevitable. Postponed by the Persian invasion, it 



GREECE. 31 

came in 431 B. C, lasted twenty-seven years, and re- 
sulted in the complete overthrow of Athens. Sparta 
was chief city of Greece for a third of a century. Her 
star went down forever at Leuctra, 371 B. C. 

^ Politically there was marked difference between European 
and Asiatic Greeks. The latter were early distinguished for in- 
tellectual progress and later attained distinction in commerce 
and science, but in politics they remained to the last unimpor. 
tant. Holm, Greece, I, 173, says : "We never find a trace of 
military force based on a combination of several individuals, 
nor a single community characterized by real political or mili- 
tary power. The cities fell one by one into the hands of the 
Lydians, and then under the power of Persia." On the other 
hand, among the European Greeks politics furnished the main 
interest. Sparta developed earliest. 

^The Helots were a source of constant anxiety to the Spartan. 
They were flogged to keep their minds upon their servile con- 
dition. Any who showed spirit were put out of the way. A 
peculiar usage was countenanced, according to which, at inter- 
vals, a body of young Spartans was commissioned to kill as 
many Helots, especially the more robust and dangerous, as they 
chose, wherever they might find them. Crypteia was .the name 
of this assassination. According to Thuc, IV, 80, at one time 
judicial murder was performed upon no less than 2,000, "And 
no man knew how any one of them came to his end." 

^The Spartans believed that the two kings represented the 
two sons of Aristodemus who won lyaconia in the partition of the 
Peloponnese. Quite possibly the invading Dorians united with 
the Achseans already in possession, having two kings to repre- 
sent the two nationalities. 

*By a noisy sort of acclamation. The judges were in rooms 
apart. They judged the man elected whose nomination was 
received with loudest shouts. 

^ By strange anomaly kings must stand in presence of Ephors. 
So absolute was rule of Ephorate that a proverb found currenc}^ 
declaring that vSparta had two kings and five de.spots. 



32 Gr:^kc^. 

SEC. 5. ATHENS. 

For the later world Athens is Greece. Art, culture, 
learning, poetr}^, song — for all that enriches and inspires 
we turn to Athens. Later^ in coming to prominence 
than Sparta, Athens rose higher and accomplished 
mightier things. Sparta to the end was an oligarchy. 
Athens from practical oligarch}^'^ passed through lib- 
eralized aristocracy to the only kind of democrac}^ the 
ancient world could understand.^ Great chiefs in this 
development were Draco, Solon, Clisthenes. The fifth 
centur}^ before Christ was the period of Athenian glory. 
The Greek struggle against the barbarian was conducted 
b}^ Athens. The age of Pericles saw Athens and Greek 
civilization together at the zenith. Great names make 
the century memorable.^ Great architecture, great art, 
great literature, great teaching, great fighting — every 
line of human endeavor was carried so far that Pericles' 
boast seems to have been justified when, in his immortal 
funeral oration, he pronounced Athens a school for 
Hellas.^ But nothing in Greece was long-lived. Be- 
fore the 5th century closed Athens had lost not only 
supremacy, but independence — her walls gone, her ships 
gone, her best citizens, her treasure, and her possessions 
gone. Flutterings now and again told that the old life 
was not wholly extinct, but after Spartan ascendency 
and Theban ascendency came the fatal day of Ch^roneia, 
Augusts, 338 B. C, and henceforth under Macedonian 
headship Athens and Greece fared forth on the way to 
Rome. 

^ By 765 B. C. Sjiarta was mistress of Ivaconia. The consti- 
tution of Lycurgus probably dates a full century earlier. The 
first reliable date for Athens is 683 B. C. the institution of an- 
nual archons. 



GREECE. 33 

'^ Before Draco government was in hands of Eupatrids or 
Nobler, without check. It will be well to keep in mind the 
traditional division by ranks : i. Eupatridse, 2. Geoniori, 3. 
Deniiurgi, and by tribes : i. Geleontes, 2. Hopletes, 3. Arga- 
deis, 4. ^gicoreis. The Eupatridae had all political power. 

^The mass meeting. We look in vain for representative gov- 
ernment in those old days. 

* Miltiades, Themistocles, Cimou, Alcibiades, ^Eschylus, Sopho- 
cles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Herodotus, Thucydides, Phidias, 
Ictinus, Callicrates, Mnesicles, Polygnotus, Socrates, Zeno, 
Anaxagoras, Protagoras, Plato. 

^ '*In short, I say the whole city is a school for Hellas, and, 
in my opinion, the same individual would among us prove him- 
self qualified for the most various kinds of action. That this is 
not mere vaunting language, but sober truth, the very power of 
the State, which we have won by such habits, is itself proof. 
For it is the only country at the present time that, when brought 
to the test, proves greater than its fame ; the only one that 
neither gives to the enemy who has attacked us aii}' cause for 
indignation at ])eing worsted by such opponents, nor to him 
who is subject to us room for finding fault, as not being ruled 
by men who are worth}'^ of the empire. We have made every 
sea and land accessible to our daring, and have ever3^wliere es- 
tablished records, whether of evil or of good." 



SEC. 6. MACEDOX. 

The Macedonian was a Greek barbarian.' In his 
country monarchy and nobility were still recognized in- 
stitutions, the only institutions that could be recog- 
nized. The king for long, however, was only the chief. 
Presently, in the 7th century B. C, Perdiccas got fame 
by winning headship of Macedonia. By Philip's time, 
359-336 B. C, Macedonia was compact State, the op- 
posite in size and polity of the typical city State so com- 
mon farther south. Thus, while internal dissension 
and mutual jealousy and inveterate isolation were mak- 



34 GREPXE. 

ing the old Greek cities ready to harvest, Macedonia 
was getting ready to gather them in. Opportunity and 
incHnation fell together.'^ A Macedonian garrison soon 
held Corinth and all the Peloponnese except Sparta 
welcomed Philip.^ Intrigues with Athens and Thebes 
followed. Opposition was organized. Effort availed 
nothing because of habit of separateness and changed 
character of the old States. At Chseroneia, 338 B. C, 
Philip bore down all resistance and Macedonia was mis- 
tress of Greece.* Two years later Alexander became 
king.^ His first task was to stamp out the fires of re- 
volt in Greece. The fate of Thebes ^ records how faith- 
fully the work was done. His second was to conquer 
the Persian Empire. Issus and Arbela made him lord 
of the East.' His third was to weld Europe, Asia, and 
Africa into a world empire. Two obstacles blocked 
the way : i. The Romans, unbeknown to Alexander, 
were winning dominion in the West, and it is a ques- 
tion whether the Macedonian Phalanx could have over- 
borne the Roman Eegion. 2. He died.^ Alexander 
left no successor.** Part of his work proved permanent,^" 
but his empire fell to pieces. The mighty fragments 
were finally built into the Empire of Rome. 

^ One has to recall the fact that the Hellenes were only one 
branch of the Greek family. Other branches were Greek, 
thongli less advanced. In the Macedonian we have an example 
of such, a man whose culture has not got beyond the Homeric 
point of view. The Heroic age lives again in Alexander. The 
fondness of Alexander for Homer was due to something more 
than literary taste. He was himself a man of Homeric mould. 

■•^Athens was engaged in the Social war, brought on by the 
exactions of Athenian generals from the allies of Athens. It 
ended in acknowledgment of the independence of the more 
important allies. Thebes and Phocis were waging the Sacred 
war. Philip took advantage of both these conflicts. 



GREECE. 35 

^ Sparta was not destroyed, but her obstinacy was punished 
by loss of territory, part of which Philip gave to Argos, part to 
Arcadia. 

* Several causes combined to destroy the old Greece: i. Slack- 
ening of moral fiber. 2. Undue influence of masses. 3. Fatal 
notion that diplomacy is fair substitute for armies and navies. 4. 
Failure of military instinct. 5. lyack of competent generalship. 
6. Most vital of all, absence of national feeling. 

^ The victim of domestic infelicity. Olympias, who had borne 
Alexander, was greatly disliked by Philip, in large part, doubt- 
less, because of traits of character that made her intolerable to 
nearly every one except her son. Philip took a new wife. An 
uncle of the new wife made it his business to insult a number 
of persons. One of the number, unable to get satisfaction from 
the king, slew him. 

^Six thousand were killed in ths taking of the city. The 
survivors were sold into slaver3\ The city was laid in ruins, 
only the temples and the house of Pindar being spared. It is 
only fair to say that Alexander afterward thought this fate un- 
dul}' severe. 

^ After Issus, 333 B. C, Darius sought peace, offering Alex- 
ander, among other inducements, his daughter as wife, and all 
the country west of the Euphrates. Alexander replied that he 
saw no reason for being content with half when the whole was 
already his, and that if he saw fit to marry the Great King's 
daughter he should do so without reference to the father's con- 
sent. After Arbela, 331 B. C, he actually made good his boast. 

*^ June 28, 323 B. C. Excess at table is commonly supposed to 
have brought on the fever which after eleven days proved fatal. 
A few days before deputies had arrived to announce the acknowl- 
edgment of the Greeks that he was a god. Sic transiit gloria 
mundi. 

3 His half-brother was an imbecile. His son by Roxana was 
as yet unborn. The vast domain was partitioned among his 
generals. Antigonus made himself master of Asia, and claimed 
sovereignty of empire. Against him were pitted four other 
generals. At Ipsus, in Phrygia, 301 B. C, Antigonus was de- 
feated. Henceforth Seleucus had Asia from Phrygia to India. 
Ivysimachus had western Asia Minor and Thrace. Ptolemy had 
Egypt. Cassander had INIacedonia. 



36 GREKCK. 

^°Asia was made acquainted with Hellenic culture. Cities, 
not less than seventy in all, founded to secure allegiance of 
empire, became centers of Greek influence. The East learned 
that conquest is possible without the frightful cruelties which 
have characterized most Oriental victory. Commerce was 
quickened. Industry was aided by distribution of Eastern 
treasure. A new world was opened to Greece. 



SKC. 7. THE GRKKK SPIRIT. 

A thousand threads unite modern culture with that 
of Greece. We have practically no sympathy with the 
first great nations. The Greek appeals to us as a friend 
and brother. The difference between Greece and the 
East is a matter of spirit. In the older world, develop- 
ment was fated always to stop short. Men are seen only 
in the mass, weighed down by nature and rulers and 
the gods. In Greece a wholly new qtiality appears in 
an apparent ability to transcend all limits of growth. 
Nature and rulers and the gods stand off far enough to 
give play to the individual.^ True, as against the State 
the individual as yet does not count. As against all 
else, however, he counts everything. Fotir notes mark 
the Greek spirit: i. Independence. As early as the 
Heroic Age the king was surrounded by a council, and 
the assembly was by no means to be despised. Later 
most Greek States got along without a king. To this 
day if a king is accepted at all, it must be an outsider. 
This looks like a paradox. In fact, it is emergence of 
old spirit of independence which forbade one Greek to 
acknowledge another Greek as his superior. Isolation 
of the old Greek States was due to this. So far was it 
carried that concerted action was never possible for long 
together. It wrought ill in the long run, but the Greek 
would not have been a Greek without it. 2. Inquisi- 



GRKKCE. 37 

tiveiiess.'^ The spirit of independence made the Greek 
an inquirer. The result appeared in a method and a 
bod}' of thought which the world has never outo^rown. 
3. Proportion. " Nothing in excess " was one of the 
golden texts of Delphi. No exaggeration, but sanity, 
balance, everywhere was the aim. 4. Beauty. This 
conception included the moral as well as the esthetic 
ideal. The Greek character is bound to be misinter- 
preted in absence of reference to the unity of the true, 
the beautiful, the good. 

Here are the conditions of indefinite expansion. 
The movement so guaranteed was not by any means 
always uniform. Progress was not always straight- 
forward. Lack of uniformity, however, never became 
disorder, and no field gained was ever wholly lost. 

1 In the East man seemed never quite to get the idea that he 
belonged to himself. Duty lies in obedience to certain pre- 
scribed rules. Actions do not count except with reference to 
the formal prescription. The Greek declared himself a free 
man. Personal responsibility at once followed. Man hence- 
forth was a moral agent 

- Egypt and Chaldea had rough-sketched astronomy, pure 
mathematics, geometry, and mechanics. Greece made them 
real sciences, as also natural history and hygiene. Where the 
East had led the way in research it had left results too little 
systematized to be of use. 

"The Greeks, masters of the beautiful, were also masters of 
the true, whether with Pythagoras, Euclid, Archimedes, they 
laid the foundations of geometry and mechanics ; whether, 
with Aristotle, they founded natural history ; with Hippocrates, 
the art of observing and interrogating ; or whether, with Plato, 
the methods of discussion." Moleschott: The Unity of Science. 

SEC. 8. INTELLECTUAI. LIFE. 

It is to Greece that we owe settled, organized intel- 
lectual life. Philosophy,' history' as distinct from 



38 GRKKCK. 

chronology, science in any large sense had beginning 
there. lyiterature,' the drama/ oratory^ were there 
carried to degree of excellence unsurpassed, perhaps 
unmatched, elsewhere. There also was developed the 
first rational school system. Intellectual genius, stim- 
ulated by conditions to the last degree favorable, 
brought forth after its kind, and the brief but brilliant 
centuries which are the glory of Greece made the world 
forever a debtor to the land of Homer and v^schyhis and 
Phidias and Demosthenes and Herodotus and Pericles. 

^ Several schools : i. The Ionic, founded by Thales. 2. The 
Pythagorean, founded by Pythagoras. 3. The Kleatic, founded 
by Xenophanes. 4. The Academicians, who owed origin to 
Plato. 5. The Peripatetics, founded by Aristotle. 6. The Epi- 
cureans, founded by Epicurus. 7. The Stoics, founded by Zeno. 

'^Note names of Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon. 

^ Three great periods : i. Epic and Lyric, to Persian wars. 2. 
Attic, to Macedonian ascendancy. 3. Alexandrian, to Roman 
conquest. Fr. Aug. Wolf estimates that classic Greek litera- 
ture contained 1,200 works. 

*^schylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Menander. 

^ Lysias, Isocrates, Isaeus, ^schines, Demosthenes. 

SKC. 9. ART. 

The intellectual life of Greece was the dawn and 
promise of our own. To exchange the present for the 
past in philosophy, literature, and science would be to 
suffer loss. In art, in certain phases at least, Greece 
spoke the final word. For their art, as for everything 
else, the Greeks owed much to the East. The proper 
division of influence cannot now be made — Egyptologist 
claiming the major part for Egypt, Assyriologist the 
major part for the Babylonian group. The fact of in- 
fluence cannot be denied. But impulse proved inspira- 



GREECE. 39 

tioii, not subjugation. The wooden, smirking, flat- 
footed images of the Hast soon gave way to men and 
women of flesh and blood. Akin to the Egyptian in this, 
the Greek counted it no shame to open Hfe to the sun. 
His passion for the beautiful led him to appreciation of 
living forms. His sympathy with present reality turned 
him from the colossal and the enigmatical so congenial 
to the East, and in their place he built a world of beauty 
and order, good for men to dwell in. Wood he used 
until he learned that there was better material. Then 
he used cla}^ terra cotta, bronze, and lastly and chiefly, 
marble. Of the three great lines we can speak least 
positively of painting,' as we know it only at second or 
remoter hand. Sculpture" is represented by many ex- 
amples, though what we have is doubtless but a poor 
fraction of what once existed. Architecture has left 
not only buildings, but orders'' of building, which have 
never been superseded and which will probably never 
be improved. 

^ Polygnotus, Apollodorus, Zeuxis, and Parrhasius have great 
reputation, but unfortunately only the merest fragments (Mon- 
ceaux : La Grece avant Alexandre, p. 226) have come down 
to us. 

2 Ageladas, Myron, Polycletus, Phidias, Praxiteles, Scopas. 

^ Doric, Ionic, Corinthian. 

SEC. 10. FAITH. 

Even after the Christian era opened, the Greek was 
scrupulously religious' in his own fashion. He was so 
in the great days of Greece. Never fetichistic, he yet 
saw divinity everywhere. Nature worship, perhaps, 
best expresses the fact, looking especially to the sky 
and its phenomena — thunder, rain, cloud, light ; the 



40 GREECE. 

ocean ; the earth. Intermixture of Semitic cults must 
also be recognized. But of the list of divinities, never 
entirely closed, twelve^ stood as the great gods. Each 
god had his own favorites, his own domicile, his own 
jealousies. Country, State, tribe, family, individual — 
each had devotions 'peculiar to itself.'' Communication 
was kept up with the gods by offerings, sacrifices, and 
vows on man's part ; by dream, omen, and oracular re- 
sponse* on the part of the god. In the god the Greek 
saw a man — himself — only better, or worse, because 
bigger. The word anthropomorphic is as true to Greek 
thought as it is to Greek speech. It is little strange 
therefore that there was large element of calculation in 
the religion. Still the Greek character did not lack 
veneration. With all his thought of them as men with 
unlimited power and license, he regarded the gods as 
the guardians of justice. He might repeat the scan.dals 
of Olympus, but he feared the dwellers there. Even 
death is no escape, for Nemesis guards the door through 
which men pass to join the dead. Back of the gods 
stood Destiny, to whom even the mightiest of them 
must yield. Unlike gods and men. Destiny knows no 
caprice. The order of the world was in its keeping. 
There can be therefore no swerving on the part of 
Destiny. The utmost that either gods or men may 
hope is that its decrees may for a time be withheld, 
because of pious devotion and sacrifice. Thus at the 
threshold of fatalism the Greek recovered part of his 
moral liberty. The irreconcilable demands of Destiny 
and personal freedom simply stated the problem of sov- 
ereignty and free agency as the Greek saw it. 

^ Acts xvii is most instructive iUustratiou of Greek character. 
Paul finds opening to preach gospel to Athenians through their 
effort to give every god his due. Some good received or evil 



GREECE. 41 

averted cannot be ascribed to any divinity in the recognized list. 
To make sure therefore of not missing any with resulting offense, 
they rear an altar to " an unknown god." 

■■^Zeus, Here, Poseidon, Apollo, Athene, Aphrodite, Ares, 
Hephaestus, Histia, Demeter, Artemis, Hermes. A countless 
host of lesser gods swell the list after these. 

^ Union of peoples meant mutual adoption of gods. 

* For long the most famous oracle was that of Apollo, at 
Delphi, at the foot of Mt. Parnassus. Less well known were 
the prophetic oaks at Dodona, in Kpirus, and the cave of Tro- 
phonios, in Bceotia. 



SEC. II. POLITICS. 

The spirit that made Greece great presently became 
her ruin. Greek independence never outgrew indi- 
vidualism. The independence was at first great gain. 
It meant a multitude of practically equal states de- 
veloped side by side, emulating and stimulating one 
another. Now one, now another, broke a new path or 
led the way to larger accomplishment. The alignment 
was not perfect, but the progress was unmistakable. 
Later the city state, limited in population and in land, 
proved unequal to the task of political development. 
No way out was found until Macedonia, possessed of 
less culture, but of sounder political instinct, gathered 
up the remnants of the old order. Under Alexander, 
Greece for a moment touched the other political pole. 
Herein, indeed, lies for us much of the significance of 
Greek politics. Barring only representative govern- 
ment, which is a distinctly later conception, Greek 
political organization exhibits every principal phase of 
government from the city state to the world empire. 
I. Autonomy. The city state. The normal Greek 
system. The government of the city state passed 
6 



42 GREECE. 

through varied forms, showing (i) Kingship, (2) Tyr- 
anny, (3) Aristocracy, (4) Democracy. 2. Hegemony J 
The headship of a powerful city. Athens, Sparta, 
and Thebes name the best examples. 3. Federation. 
Leagues like the ^tolian and the Achaean.^ 4. Empire. 
The Macedonian ascendancy. To this must be added 
the undying influence of Greek statesmen and law- 
givers^ and of Greek political philosophers.* 

^ Many times the Amphictyonic leagues liad political charac- 
ter. The directness of control in any case of hegemonN'^ differed 
according to circumstances. After the Persian war that of 
Athens amounted almost to absolute dominion. Sometimes, 
indeed, we hear of the Athenian empire. 

^The Achaean league cama within sight of representative 
government. According to constitution, votes were by cities, 
whether one or many delegates were present from a city. It 
must be confessed, however, that the constitution appears not 
to have been observed to any great extent on this point. The 
entire conception of representation was foreign to the Greek 
mind. 

'Lycurgus, Draco, Solon, Clisthenes. Rome studied Greek 
institutions and embodied many Greek ideas in the Twelve 
Tables and in the Servian Constitution. 

* Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Politics are to this day text- 
books on political science. 



CHAPTER IIL 



Rome. 



SKC. I. ITAIvY. 

Italy is, so to speak, an island, three parts bounded 
by sea, the fourth part bounded by mountains. Thus 
geographic unity ^ is assured. The Apennines run the 
whole length of the peninsula, roughly halving it length- 
wise. The eastern half is broken pasture land, innumer- 
able sections separated by mountain spur and ravine, 
sloping to a flat, portless shore, which abuts on a stormy 
sea. West are plains, fertile and well watered, stretch- 
ing to broken coast, with numerous harbors opening 
upon a quiet sea. The country opens inward on the 
north and on the west. The Alps are precipitous along 
their southern wall, while northward they slope com- 
parativ^ely gradually. This is physical explanation of 
fact of constant invasion from north. It is easy to come 
down, almost impossible to go up. Easy opening out- 
ward is only on west. 

The country as a whole is physically varied, with 
corresponding political division. Nearly twelve hun- 
dred cities have recorded attained or attempted inde- 
pendence. Here are all the material conditions of Greek 
isolation over again. Apparently the disposition ^ was 
not whoU}^ wanting. 

^ Italy was admirably fitted to be center of still larger unity, 
" So dominating is the position of the Italian peninsula and so 
great its natural advantages that we may say that if Providence 

7 (43) 



44 ROMK . 

destined the Mediterranean, with its bordering lands, to become 
a nniversal empire, an empire that shonld gather into one focns 
all the rays of antique civilization, Italy alone could be the place 
of its origin, and to Italy alone could the supremacy belong." 
Falcke : Greece and Rome, 191. 

2 The stern persistence with which Rome fought into subjec- 
tion all independence in Italy, and later throughout the world, 
betokens appreciation in the Roman beyond others of his time 
of the weakness of isolation. Isolation was the order of the day, 
none the less. Therein lay half the secret of Roman victory. 
So early the maxim was in force, " Divide and conquer." 



SEC. 2. THE LATIN STOCK. 

Four distinct groups are distinguishable in the early 
population of Italy, i. lapygian. Probably Aryan. 
Already Hellenized when we first know of them. 2. 
Greek. Part of great colonial system of Greece. So 
large were Greek interests in Italian peninsula that 
part of it was called Magna Grecia.' 3. Etruscan. 
Who they were and whence they came are still unan- 
swered questions. It is, perhaps, not too hazardous to 
assume that the3^also were Aryan. 4. Italians. Clearly 
Aryan. Divided into two branch-stocks, the I^atin and 
the Umbrian. Each of these branch-stocks had numer- 
ous offshoots. Latin races occupied the central and 
southern parts of peninsula west of Apennines. The 
Umbrians under various names — Sabine, Samnite, Sa- 
bellian — held whole eastern part of peninsula. Out 
of all this, Latin land proper was old Latium, a little 
district of about seven hundred square miles, on the 
left bank of the Tiber. Here in Latium was the home 
of the people from whom sprang the sturdy founders 
of Rome. 

^ Greek cities dotted coast of Italy, vSicily, Spain, and France. 
Several attained great prominence, notabl}' Agrigentum, Syra- 



ROPIE. 



45 



cuse, Croton, vSybaris, Tarentuni. Some of Rome's hardest 
fighting was occasioned by relations centering in these cities. 
Pyrrhus invaded Italy to aid Tarentuni. The war with Carthage 
began in a dispute about Sicilian, /. e., Greek, politics. 



SKC. 3. AMALGAMATION. 

The Latins were a composite race. Their great city 
was composite. Its rise to headship was effected through 
amalgamation. The Latin land was divided into can- 
tons. The old social organization into clans gave each 
village its local government, but above the village com- 
munity was larger division, the canton. These can- 
tons, of which there were thirt}* in Latium, formed the 
famous Latin League, with Alba Longa at its liead. 
One of these cantons was the Roman. The local center 
and stronghold of the Roman canton was on the Pala- 
tine hill. The Roman territory was very limited, but 
was earl}^ extended to follow the Tiber to its mouth. 
On a neighboring hill, the Quirinal, was a Sabine city. 
Roman and Sabine, after measuring strength in con- 
flict, combined. A third body entered the combina- 
tion, some say a Latin, some an Etruscan^ tribe. At 
any rate, the Roman State was composed of three tribes — 
Ramnes, Titles, Luceres — of which the first was un- 
mistakably Latin,' the second unmistakably Sabine.'^ A 
fused race by fusion makes a city.^ This fact is not 
without significance for Roman histor\'. 

^ It seems certain that from Etruria in some way Rome re- 
ceived the following elements : Division into tribes, curiae, and 
centuries, the order of battle, the regalia of the magistrate, toga, 
lictors, display of triumphs, and public games, the sacred char- 
acter of property, and the State religion. . 

-The Latins contributed language and agricultural customs. 



46 ROME. 

3 The vSabines furnished military titles, weapons, and gods. 

* Of the seven kings, Romulus and Tullius Hostilius were 
Latin ; Numa and Ancus were Sabine ; the Tarquins and Servius 
Tullius were Etruscan. 



SEC. 4. CONvSOIvIDATlON. 

For twelve hundred 3^ears the one stranger in Rome 
was peace. ^ The new city state was hemmed in on 
every side. For enlargement the way had to be fought 
open.'^ There was no delay in beginning. Conquest of 
Alba gave Rome hegemony of Latium. Carthaginian, 
Hellene, Etruscan, and Sabellian were made to feel that 
the old Latium was no more. In its place stood a new 
power. The earliest movements of that power disclose 
what conception it had of the task before it. It estab- 
lished order within its own limits and compelled Latium 
to obedience. Then by unsparing toil it began to en- 
large the boundaries of Latium. now become Rome. 
Never yielding afoot, never counting strokes, never 
considering the possibility of failure, it pushed on, mas- 
tering Italy, mastering Gatil, mastering the West, 
mastering the East, mastering the world. What it 
mastered it built into the whole. Over the roads which 
bound all together a stream of gold flowed to the capital, 
a stream of order flowed to the provinces. Tribute at- 
tested submission. Armies and laws and settled life 
told everywhere of the mighty power at the center. 
Enlargement was an incident. The land already con- 
quered is safe only when the land next beyond is con- 
quered also. The marvel is that such huge possessions 
could be welded. That she could weld them is Rome's 
peculiar glory. Consolidation names the program 
which for twelve centuries she consistently followed. 



ROME. 47 

^ The Temple of Janus was open in time of war, closed in time 
of peace. It was closed four times — in reign of Numa ; in 235 
B. C. ; by Augustus, 29 B. C. ; by Vespasian, 71 A. D. 

2 Effect of this in developing military system worth noticing. 



SEC. 5. KINGDOM. 

For two and a half centiiries Rome had a king. The 
State was composed of. three tribes, thirty curiae, three 
hundred decuriae.^ The Comitia Curiata was the as- 
sembly of the people for public business. Two social 
orders were recognized, the Patrician and the Plebeian."^ 
Only Patricians had place in the Comitia Curiata . They 
alone were the populus.'^ The Comitia elected the king. 
The king chose the Senators. The Servian reform was 
accomplished by the new constitution of Servius Tul- 
lius. Under this the whole body of the people was for 
the first time politicall}- organized. Servius, for mili- 
tary purposes, arranged the people in classes according 
to property.* Hence sprang the Comitia Centuriata. 
While giving preponderance to wealth, it constituted, 
in form at least,, a national assembly. It largely super- 
seded the old Comitia Curiata. Its function was four- 
fold : I. Elect magistrates. 2. Make and repeal laws. 
3. Declare w^ar and peace. 4. Guard privileges of 
Roman citizens. 

About the kings we know little. Seven have been 
reported. How far the Roman element was from ab- 
solutely dominating tlie other elements in the new State 
is indicated by the fact that of the seven kings only two 
were distinctively Roman. Romulus founded the city. 
Titus Tatius was joint king with Romulus. Numa 
Pompilius developed an ecclesiastical organization. 
Ancus Martins bridged the Tiber. Tarquinius Priscus 
represented Etruscan power. Servius Tullius intro- 



48 ROME. 

diiced the Servian constitution. Tarquiniiis Superbus 
was dethroned because he was a tryant and his son a 
beast. The kingdom lasted from 753 B. C. to 509 B. C. 

' Distinction apparently must be made between pohtical di- 
vision stated in text and social division which included tribe, 
curia, gens, faniiha, in good Aryan fashion. 

2 In another relation also stood patron and client. Originally 
client and plebeian were entirely distinct. As contrasted with 
patron, client represented personal, private, family relation. 
The plebeian was related not to individual or family, but to 
State. Naturally client and pleb tended to coalesce. 
^Official designation was Populus Romanus Quirites. 
* The table of arrangement was as follows, reckoning by money 
as later, instead of by latid, as originally — 100,000 asses ^ ^2,000 : 
rst class. 80 centuries. Property, 100,000 asses. 
2d " 20 " " 75,000 " 

3d " 20 " " 50,000 " 

4th " 20 " " 25,000 " 

5th " 30 " " I i,oao " 

To be added are : 

18 centuries, cavalry. 
5 " musicians, workmen, &c. 

This reform substituted wealth for birth as basis of power. 
While primarily a military division, the Comitia Centuriata 
quickly became political. Votes were cast i)y centuries. 

SEC. 6. REPUBLIC. 

The banishment of the king was not peculiar to Rome. 
The whole Graeco-Latin world got rid of royalty at one 
point or another. The king was succeeded by the 
noble — the rule of the one giving way to the rule of 
the few, which in turn was destined often to yield to 
that of the many. The revolution that dethroned Tar- 
quin left the State in the hands of the Patricians. The 
functions of royalty were parcelled out. Public busi- 
ness went on as before. The Republic lasted five hun- 
dred years.' Its life fell into marked divisions : 



R0MI5. 49 



I . Conflict between social orders, resulting in political 
rights outside Patrician ranks. Plebeian wrested from 
Patrician successively participation in government by 
the offices of Tribune, ^dile, Military Tribune with 
consular power, Consul, Dictator, Censor, Pr^tor, and, 
finally, Pontiffs and Augurs; the recognition of binding 
power of plebiscitum on whole people ; intermarriage ; 
codification and publication of law. So political equality 
was established between the two orders. This struggle, 
including result, singularly typical of contest for Roman 
citizenship, waged in turn between Rome-born and out- 
sider, whether of peninsula or beyond.' Closely in- 
volved with this was aUied but not identical struggle 
between rich and poor, which resulted in considerable 
financial and agrarian legislation, but with little avail. 
While not confined thereto, this conflict specifically 
marks first two centuries of Republic. 

2. Conquest of Italy. A tedious story af fighting, 
subjugation, revolt, resubjugation, and destruction or 
deportation fills first half of Republican period. 
Throughout, however, Rome, on the whole, made head- 
way. Then came dissolution of Latin I^eague, Samnite 
wars, three in number, absorption of Etruria, defeat of 
Pyrrhus, recognition of Roman supremacy throughout 
Italy. 

1 509-31 B. C. 

''Caracalla, 212 A. D., gave franchise to all freemen through- 
out empire. Perhaps it should be added that citizenship by that 
time had lost much of its value. 



SEC. 7. THE SAME. 

3. Establishment of Roman power in West. Rome's 
one dangerous rival was Carthage. This Phoenician 



50 Rome:. 

colony had grown to headship of a virtual empire in 
northern Africa. It was inevitable that Rome and 
Carthage should be called upon to determine the ques- 
tion of supremacy. The record of their meeting is the 
story of the Punic war. Of this there were three stages: 

1. First Punic war, 264-241 B. C. Main result was 
adding of naval arm to Rome's fighting resources. 

2. Second Punic war, 218-201 B. C. Memorable for 
gigantic exploits of Hamilcarand, more 3'et, Hannibal,' 
and for unparalleled slaughter of Roman troops.- Lake 
Trasimenus and Cannae were to the last names of horror 
to a Roman. More memorable 5^et for exhibition of 
Roman character.'^ Rome won. Carthage became de- 
pendent State. African tribes were admitted to alliance 
with Rome. Spain was added to Roman domain. The 
supremacy of the sea was assured Rome and, vital fact, 
the way was opened to reduction of East. 3. Third 
Punic war, 149-146 B. C. Chiefly important as giving 
excuse for blotting out Carthage, a task performed with 
Roman thoroughness.* The great question of Aryan 
or Semitic dominion for the West was settled by the 
second encounter. 

4. Provincial empire. Procedure in West was con- 
tinued East. Greece, distracted and jealous as usual, 
despite noble efforts of ^tolian and Achaean Leagues, 
was easy prey. lUyria was subdued. Three w^ars broke 
Macedonia. The battle of Pydna, 168 B. C, marks 
date of Rome's universal dominion. 

5. Internal dissension. The last centur}'^ of the Re- 
public was a period of bitter civil strife. Nobles and 
commons were continually at odds. More and more 
power fell into hands of the nobility, who did not scruple 
to use it for personal and party ends. The rabble, 
whose votes were needed, were systematically corrupted. 



ROME. 51 

Slave crowded out free labor. Ranches swallowed up 
farms and garden plots. A large, worthless, and dan- 
gerous following was assured the demagogue. A close 
aristocracy became a family oligarchy. In the First 
Triumvirate political issues were pooled. Crassus met 
death in the far Hast. Pompey, defeated at Pharsalus, 
fled to Egypt, where he, too, met death. Caesar, left 
alone, reduced the State to order, and by 45 B. C. every- 
thing was under his control. Rome had a king once 
more.^ Caesar's death, the following year, threw every- 
thing into confusion. Again interests were pooled, and 
the Second Triumvirate was formed. Lepidus was 
crowded out. Antony and Octavius divided the world 
between them, Antony taking the East. But the world 
was not large enough for two masters. At Actium, 
31 B. C, it was decided that the one master should be 
Octavius. So the imperial swav won by Caesar was 
continued in his nephew and heir, and the Republic 
had become an Empire. 

^ For years together Hannibal carried on the struggle single- 
handed. His heroism throws a glorious light about the struggle 
which dazzles one and makes one feel that he deserved victory. 
That he was a mighty leader cannot be doubted, but he repre- 
sented an inferior civilization and his victory would have meant 
distinct loss to the world. 

^Not to mention Carthaginian loss. Iviv}^ says that at the 
battle of Metaurus 56,000 Carthaginians were killed and 5,400 
•made prisoners. At Lake Trasimenus the Roman loss was 
15,000 killed, 15,000 taken prisoners. At Cannae the awful total 
of slain was 70,000. 

^ When Varro returned from slaughter of Cannae the Senate 
met him and gravely thanked him for not despairing of the Re- 
public. 

* Fifty thousand inhabitants were carried captive and most of 
them sold into slavery. The city was razed to the ground. The 
plow was passed over it, so putting legal end to city. Perpetual 



52 



ROME. 



barrenness was invoked in a curse that forbade either house or 
cornfield ever to cover the spot. 

^All but the name. Caesar simply combined all important 
offices in his own person. He was at once dictator, consul, 
censor, tribune, pontifex maximus, augur. 

SEC. 8. EMPIRE. 

Tt is not the thing, but the name, that men fear. For 
two centuries the Romans beheved themselves the 
ancient people with the old spirit, because they had the 
old terms. Disguised imperialism describes the his- 
tory of those centuries. Diocletian threw off the mask 
and two centuries of military despotism followed. The 
thing and the name at last had met. These two periods 
join in century period of transition. 

I. Disguised Imperialism, 31 B. C.-180 A. D. Au- 
gustus, though lord of the world, preserved the old 
forms. Senate and people and official names remained 
unchanged. Only Augustus combined the offices in 
his own person, and used Senate and people as his tools. 
Augustus must not be blamed for being Emperor. Im- 
perialism, whether so named or not, was the only gov- 
ernment possible for the Romans of that day. The 
beginning was auspicious. It constituted the Augustan 
age.^ After Augustus Rome endured a succession ,of 
imperial maniacs for fift}^ years. In the merc}^ of God 
the Julian line then failed. For lust, cruelty, and 
stupid folly the record of the last four Caesars -' has 
never been equaled. Vespasian, Titus, Nerva, Trajan, 
Hadrian, and the two Antonines'^ ruled strongl}^ and 
j ustly . Under them the empire enjoyed unlimited pros- 
perity. Concerning period as whole, we may say : i. 
The forms of the constitution were observed. 2. The 
boundaries of the empire were enlarged. 3. The brutal 



ROME. 53 

tyranny of the bad emperors was chiefl}^ felt in Rome. 
4. The provinces were seat of real life of empire. 

2. Transition. The cup of shame was filled to the 
brim. Mutiny was the normal condition of the army. 
The crown w^as sold at auction by the praetorian guards. 
An illiterate barbarian^ was lord of the w^orld. The 
weakness of the existing order was manifest. Five 
good emperors ^ regathered the fragments of empire and 
made possible a new organization. 

3. Militar}^ Despotism. The great names of the new 
era are Diocletian and Constantine. Complete reorgan- 
ization of the empire was effected. Pressure of enemies 
led to division of empire into East and West for better 
defense. Inevitable separation of interest followed. 
For a moment under Theodosius the empire was again 
one. Final division followed his death.'' The century 
left the Western Empire was a period of dissolution. 
The star of Rome paled before the barbarian and finally 
set in a sea of blood. 

^ The people had games and food in plenty and were content. 
Peace reigned. I^iterature flourished. Rome was beautified. 
It was the boast of Augustas that he found the city brick and 
left it marble. 

2 Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero. Infamous women played 
a large part in government. The utter helhshness of court life 
beggars description. 

^ Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. 

*Maximin, 235-238 A. D. A Thracian peasant. 

^Claudius, Aurelian, Tacitus, Probus, Cams together reigning 
sixteen years— 268-284 A. D. 

^395 A. D. Arcadius took East, Honorius West. 

SEC. 9. CULTURE. 

The Greek set the great things of life in this order— 
the Beautiful, the Noble, the Just, the Useful. The 



54 ROMK. 

Roman simply reversed the order. The Roman spirit 
was essentially practical. To dig a ditch, to build an 
aqueduct, to lead an army, to guide the State — such 
were the tasks of the Roman. His ideal was not the 
beautiful, but the useful. Tenacious of old ways, he 
was yet ready to substitute a better when he found it. 
Reverence for the family as represented in the father ; 
reverence for the State as represented in the ruler; rever- 
ence for the gods as represented by sacrifice and statute 
and temple ; sober, unwearying effort ; sense of order, 
political insight, an unbending will — these are marks of 
the Roman character as it comes to us. Such a spirit 
will work out a practical life. It may not paint ^ a beau- 
tiful picture, but it will lay a road to last twenty cen- 
turies. It may not create ^ a literature, but it will build 
an empire. If it is slow to originate, it is strong to 
organize. The Roman was the lawyer, the engineer, 
the systematizer, the road-maker of the Old World. 
Art, literature, special development he conquered along 
with the peoples which had them. His culture there- 
fore was composite. It embraced all that the world had 
found worth saving. 

^ The Roman was a great art-collector, the world's middleman 
in this, as in so much else. His city, with dominion, became 
the center of art, science, literature, social life — everything. 
The goods were there, but they were mainly of foreign design, 
largely of foreign manufacture. 

^Too great praise cannot be spoken of the Roman literature. 
It is not bulk or beauty or impressiveness that is chiefly want- 
ing as compared with Greek literature, but originality. Great 
names adorn the Roman page— Naevius, Plautus, Ennius, Cato, 
Attius, Ivucilius, Cicero, Varro, Caesar, Sallust, Lucretius, Ca- 
tullus, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Livy, Seneca, Juvenal, Tacitus, 
Pliny— and Roman literature is second only to that of Greece 
in the past. At the same time, it is second by an appreciable 
distance. The Greek model is everywhere apparent. 



ROME. 55 

SKC. lO. RELIGION. 

The Roman was brother to the Greek in nature-wor- 
ship.^ Everywhere he saw the gods. But the service 
he rendered them was more punctiUous'* and less beau- 
tiful than that of his brother. Religion was a matter 
of simple obligation. The Roman honored the gods ac- 
cording to a fixed ritual, and the gods in return took 
care of the Roman. Here, as so often, religion and 
morals were two distinct spheres.^ Reverence for the 
gods, moreover, was a form of loyalty. When after 
conquest a foreign god was formally introduced, the 
good citizen reverenced him, too. Christianity's re- 
fusal to worship the gods was treason. Presenth^ 
Chritianity got hold of the Roman heart. In its splendid 
fibre* it found human means of victory. Official adop- 
tion of the new faith was only recognition of a change 
already wrought. Even a new faith could not save the 
empire already hastening to dissolution. Out of it, 
however, came a new empire more enduring than the 
old.' 

^ With dying out of prejudice against foreign gods came mul- 
tiplication of cults in which old Roman worship was lost. The 
people were perplexed by commingling of new and old. The 
result was selection of few — Jupiter of the clear sky and the old 
Italian sun-god in particular — to whom they turned in their dis- 
tress. Herein is curious return to sun-worship. 

''The Roman did not hesitate to quote the law to his god. He 
was known on occasion even to take advantage of a technicality 
in his worship. 

^In the days of the bad emperors, when Rome was a moral 
pest-house, Christians of blameless lives were tortured and 
slaughtered for lack of religion in the Roman sense. 

*vStoicisni fitted the Roman mood. Christianity's message of 
the fatiierhood of God and human unity centering in the Incar- 
nation, took up the stoic doctrine of universal brotherhood and 



56 ROMK. 

filling it with practical content begot impulse toward betterment 
of all individuals, all classes, all races. Here Greek philosophy, 
Roman organization, and Christian inspiration unite. 

^It would not have been Roman to leave the church its prim- 
itive polity. Little by little, but without halt, the imperial 
order was repeated in an ecclesiastical organization, omitting 
no principal detail, with the Pope crowned as spiritual lord of 
the world. The Roman State endured twelve centuries. The 
Roman church has already completed fourteen and a half since 
Leo the Great. 



SEC. II. LAW. 

For three centuries law was a Patrician ^ affair. Then 
Plebeian insistence won its publication. The result was 
the Twelve Tables Henceforth law was a public sys- 
tem. The body of law grew rapidly. Several causes 
combined to further growth : i. Roman character was 
legal to the core. 2. Law once known, recognized lack 
was bound to be remedied, recognized excellence to be 
enlarged by natural increment. 3. Perpetual edicts of 
prcetorship won virtually legislative power. This was 
especially true of praetor peregrinus, who was free to 
consult laws of all peoples, as well as reason and equity. 
So large modifications atid additions were introduced. 
4. Professional jurisprudence brought, so to speak, 
scientific development. Great jurists filled the first two 
and a half centuries of the Empire, whose responses w^ro^ 
sought and heeded.^ 5. Imperial constitutions not only 
interpreted existing law, which was all that theory re- 
quired, but also established considerable body of new 
law. Codification at some date was a foregone conclu- 
sion with the order-loving Roman. After the Gregorian 
and Hermogenian codex, Theodosius II made code in 
5th century. Justinian made better code in 6th. Since 
Justinian there has been no moment when his code has 



ROME. 



57 



not potently influenced, both for matter and for form, 
the legal life of the civilized world, even English and 
American systems, which owe least to it, not being 
without debt. 

^ Great part of Patrician advantage over Pleb lay in this. As 
long as he did not know the law the Pleb was helpless. 

2 Goodness of much imperial law was due to this. The em- 
peror might be a bad man personally and a ruler of questional^le 
caliber, and yet, as mouthpiece of able jurist, impose regulations 
of lasting good upon empire. 



SEC. 12. POLITICAL ORGANIZATION. 

Beside the general forms already noted — kingdom, 
republic, empire — we should note the following line of 
development : i. The city state. Rome was long true 
to ancient conception of city and state as coterminous. 
When Roman franchise was given outside Rome it was 
only in Rome that it could be exercised. The limited 
use of proxies came late. Even under empire the fic- 
tion of Rome as the State w^as maintained. Augustus 
preserved the old forms. Tiberius aboHshed the Assem- 
bly, but transferred its powers to the Senate.^ Succes- 
sive emperors flattered the Senate with vain show of 
reverence, and consuls were still elected, though at bid- 
ding of emperor. Diocletian made form meet fact. 
Senate and senatorial appointment were no more. Rome 
had ceased to be the State. With Constantine it ceased 
to be even the capital. 2. The municipality. A sec- 
ondary organization, the municipal, was developed even 
before the Republic ceased. Herein Roman form was 
followed, curia '^ for Senate, duumvir for consul. Earge 
measure of local independence was thus enjoyed. In 
time municipalities were numerous throughout empire. 



58 ROME. 

After Diocletian Rome was simply municipality. The 
municipium is the more worthy of attention, as it 
marks the most durable feature of Rome's political life. 
3. Centralization. Diocletian and his successors made 
their own laws, published them by their own ministers, 
and enforced them with their own troops. The emperor 
was the government. For administrative purposes he 
divided the empire into prefectures,'' dioceses,* and 
provinces. The minutiae of control were performed by 
a host of officers and underlings who constituted a new 
and ordinarily worthless nobility. 

^ Augustus had already prepared way for weakening Senate. 
He formed a body for consultation, a committee consisting of 
consuls, one from each of the classes of the higher magistrates, 
and fifteen senators. This advisory committee considered meas- 
ures before they were submitted to Senate. Later a cabinet grew 
out of this privy council, and practically all judicial and legisla- 
tive functions were discharged by it. 

■^ The curials were the burghers, and they paid dearl}^ for the 
honor. Above them was a privileged class, who bore no burdens. 
Responsible for the imperial revenues for the district, unable to 
withdraw from responsibility, pressed by ever new exactions as 
the empire went from bad to worse, they were slowly ground 
out of existence. 

^ Gaul, Italy, Illyricum, the East. Rome and Constantinople 
had special prefects. 

* Largely bounded by old national lines. 



CHAPTER IV. 



The Barbarian Inundation. 



SEC. I. THE FOREST CHIT.DREN. 

Roughly speaking, in the last days of Rome the 
world's life moved on three great circles: i. The 
Roman Empire belting the Mediterranean . Progressive 
conquest had turned the Mediterranean into a Roman 
lake/ 2. So-called allies, forming series of buffer States. 
Tacitus admirably describes these when he speaks of 
them as in a condition dubicE libertatis. The series ran 
all the way from absolute submission to vague acknowl- 
edgment of Roman suzerainty. ■' 3. The Barbarian 
wild — limitless, mysterious, awful. Subdivision will 
aid. This gives : (i) German.'^ Covering in the main 
great section bounded north by Baltic, east by Vistula 
and Oder, south by Danube, west by Rhine. (2) Slavo- 
nian.^ Filled country east and north of Germans. (3) 
Tartar.^ Stretched away into unknown wastes of Cen- 
tral Asia. (4) African. Unwarlike and of little influence 
upon history. Of these three circles it is the outermost 
that concerns us just now. Of this circle, the German 
and the Mongol elements are most noteworthy for the 
dissolution of Rome. 

^ The Empire was one pohtically, but in language, custom, 
spirit it was clearl3^ dual — the eastern half Greek, the western 
half Latin. Division at death of Theodosius gave Arcadius Asia 
Minor, Syria, Egypt, Thrace, Dacia, Macedonia, Eastern Illyri- 

9 (59) 



6o THE BARBARIAN INUNDATION. 

cum. Honorius took Ital3% Spain, both Gauls, Africa, Noricum, 
Western lUyricum. 

2 A host of principalities like Damascus and Pontus paid 
tribute to nearest proconsul, so conceding authority of Rome. 
The lordlings of the Caucasus, Albania, Armenia, Palmyra, not 
a short list, paid when they had to, not alwa3's, however, call- 
ing it tribute ; when let alone wavered between Parthia and 
Rome, according to the interests of the hour. 

^ We speak oftenest of High German and Low German to de- 
note southern and northern populations. Much the same dis- 
tinction is marked by Suevi and non-Suevi. Chief among Suevi 
were Goths — Eastern and Western ; Alenianni, whose influence 
is indicated by name, Allemagne, given to country ; Lombards, 
Lango-bardi, or long beards ; Burgundians ; Vandals, the fierce 
warriors of Ariovistus in the days of Csesar. Non-Suevi included 
confederation of Franks, Angles, Saxons, Jutes. 

* Three principal aggregates — Antes, Wends, and Sclavenes. 

^Tartar is a late term, credited to St. Louis of France. The, 
most conspicuous divisions of Tartar group were three — Mon- 
gol proper, Finn, Turk. Of the Mongols the Hun was the great 
devastator of Burope. 

SBC. 2. WORK AND PLAY. 

What manner of men were the Barbarians who de- 
stroyed Rome ? The German character was marked by 
passion for personal independence,^ modified and held 
somewhat in check by recognition of clan ties; chivalric 
regard for womanhood,^ insuring domestic purity; in- 
temperance in food and drink, redeemed only by spirit 
of unbounded hospitality ; joy of battle,^ boding little 
good to a neighbor no longer rearing warriors of his 
own ; shadowy mysticism, perhaps born of the mystery 
of the forest ; religion, elevated by comparatively high 
conception of divinity, but degraded by heathen prac- 
tices, probably including human sacrifice. The Slavo- 
nian suffers by comparison with the German. Unclean, 
ill-housed, ill-fed, indifferent to domestic obligations. 



the: barbarian inundation. 6i 

hospitable and veracious in peace, cunning and cruel in 
war, passive, morally debased, fetichistic,* the old Slav 
was not a beautiful character. The Hun to the western 
world was a devil. ^ Misshapen as tested by human 
standards, they improved upon Nature's ugliness.^ Used 
from infancy to hardship, they could endure great ex- 
tremes of heat and cold, were tireless riders and fierce 
fighters, starved and feasted with stoic equanimity, held 
the usual Oriental view of woman, made and broke 
pledges with equal facility, pillaged and destroyed with 
true Nomad disregard of the morrow, believed and prac- 
ticed sorcery and magic. Such were German, Slav, and 
Hun, the barbarian foes of Rome. Only native vigor or 
the protection of the gods could save an empire against 
their onset. Rome had neither and was doomed. 

^ Here the bond arose, not from reverence for the head of the 
family, but from the feeling of brotherhood. This assured 
equality rather than submission. Menzel well suggests that free 
intercourse between citizens possessed of equal privileges, and 
bound by the same duties, was the soul of the ancient German 
communities, and the foundation on which their whole history 
rests. Each district had its popular assembly, in which the 
oldest presided, but in which the majority decided. The signifi- 
cance of this for modern politics is not far to seek. 

2 Tacitus, Ger., ch. 8, says : " The3' believe that something of 
the divine, some prescient power, dwells within them (the 
women), and they never neglect either their advice or their 
prophetic answers." 

^The brave man looked to immortality in Walhalla, where he 
would fight all day and at night sit down to the feast of heroes. 

*The Slav believed in two divinities, the White God and the 
Black God. The White God was a good being, from whom they 
had nothing to fear, so they let him alone. The Black God 
threatened them with harm all the time, so they worshipped 
him with horrid rites. 

^ Even a fabulous origin was assigned him. He was begotten 
of demons by Scythian witches. The supernatural element in 



62 THE BARBARIAN INUNDATION. 

his aucestry increased the terror he everywhere inspired . What 
might not the son of a demon and a witch do ! 

^The nose of the infant was flattened and its cheeks gashed 
with some kind of an iron instrument, partly for the effect of 
the horrible scars, partly to prevent the growth of a beard. 
Ammianus Marcellinus had no flattering conception of them, 
for he describes them, XXXI, 2, as '*' brute creatures on two legs, 
or the rudely fashioned images hewn out of logs of wood, which 
are sometimes placed on the parapet of a bridge." 

SEC. 3. THE FIRST ATTACK. 

This came from a people not yet mentioned — the 
Gaul. The leader in the migration from the old Aryan 
Jiome, the Celt was foremost in attack on Rome. 
Crowded by later comers, the Celt finally occupied ^ 
what is now northern Italy, France, Belgium, Ger- 
many west of Rhine, western Switzerland, and the 
British Isles. Contest with Rome was inevitable. In 
the first stage the Italian boundary was carried to the 
Alps."^ A century later ^ the balance of Gaul yielded 
grudging submission. Caesar fought the matter to a 
conclusion that could not be mistaken. Henceforth 
Gaul was not Celtic. I^anguage, literature, customs, 
institutions, all were Roman.* 

^The Celt seems to have done his full share of roving before 
he got fairly settled. In what Thierry calls his nomad stage he 
visited various parts of three continents. Rome burnt and Del- 
phi plundered tell the tale for Europe. Galatia peopled is the 
record for Asia. Traces by the Nile and at Carthage bear wit- 
ness to their visit in Africa. 

2222 B. C. 

3 118 B. C. 

*The common saying made Gaul more Roman than Rome 
itself. The transformation was so complete that when the 
Franks couquered the old land of Gaul they found everywhere 
Latin influences completely in possession and were themselves 
Latinized. 



THK BARBARIAN INUNDATION. 63 

SEC, 4. STRUGGLE. 

The first attack ended well for Rome. It added wide 
territor}^ and precious strength. For a time it seemed 
as if it might issue likewise with later effort. In spite 
of two defeats at the Rhine, whose passage a Roman 
army disputed, and the slaughter at Toulouse,' Rome 
annihilated the Teutones at Provence 102 B. C, and 
the Cimbri at Vercelli loi B. C The wars of Csesar 
kept the barbarian tide at a distance. Misfortune fell 
9 A. D., when the legions of Varus were hewn down 
by Arminius. Two and a half centuries of doubtful 
contest followed. Then, 271 A. D., Aurelian allowed 
the Goths land within the Empire. This was the be- 
ginning of the end. Probus gave the Franks land in 
Gaul. Just a century later the West Goths crossed the 
Danube. This vital movement was made under press- 
ure. The Hun had appeared. Hun pushed East 
Goth, who in turn pushed West Goth, who had to 
move on. Rome followed her old policy of playing in- 
terest against interest. For fifty years she used Hun 
and Goth as counter- weights, Goth getting the better 
of it to the extent of Alaric's sack of Rome, 410 A. D. 
Then a mighty man arose among the Huns, Attila the 
scourge of God . He adopted Rome' s policy of counter- 
weights and played Roman against Goth. Finally, 
against Rome and her allies he fought the battle of 
Chalons, 451 A. D. His defeat saved Rome. Before 
he was ready to renew the attack he died.' His death 
was followed by division in his host. The battle of 
Netad,"^ fought between the German and Hunnish sec- 
tions, broke the power of the Huns, who presently dis- 
appear. The Vandals took their turn next. The sack 
of Rome by Genseric,' in 455 A. D., tells how well 



64 THE BARBARIAN INUNDATION. 

they used their opportunity. Quarter of a century of 
change and shame followed. Three names are of im- 
portance — Ricimer, a Sueve ; Odoacer, a Pannonian ; 
Theodoric, an Ostrogoth. For centuries Rome's battles 
had been fought by barbarian troops against their 
brethren. It was only fitting that Rome's leadership® 
should be barbarian. Barbarians made and unmade 
emperors. In 476 A. D. the last puppet^ was taken 
down. "One emperor is enough," said Odoacer. 
Romulus Augustus, out of retirement, said, with greater 
truth than he realized, ** There is only one emperor." 
The Roman Senate passed on the message, prudently 
adding, because the master bade them, that "they 
felt entirely safe under Odoacer' s excellent rule. ' ' The 
plan worked well. Odoacer was King of Italy. In 
493 B. C. Theodoric slew him and became king. Italy 
was an Ostrogoth kingdom for half a century. Belisa- 
rius and Narses exterminated the Ostrogoth. Tem- 
porarily ^ united again to the Eastern Empire, Italy 
was overrun 568 A. D. by the Lombards. The Lom- 
bard kingdom lasted two centuries. Then Italy was 
gathered under the all-embracing sway of Charlemagne. 
The struggle may be conveniently divided into six 
periods, i. The Romanizing of the Gaul, completed 
by Caesar. 2. Clear Roman superiority over German 
to 9 A. D. 3. Contest with varying issue to 271 A. D. 

4. Settlement of Barbarian within empire to 375 A. D. 

5. Barbarian domination to 476 A. D. 6. Barbarian 
kingdoms in Italy to restoration of empire by Charle- 
magne. 

^ This occurred as result of quarrel between Roman leader, 
Csepio, and his colleague over division of booty. Caepio fought 
Gauls alone, and with army of 80,000 was simply blotted out. 

2 The Teutones and the Cimbri divided for the passage of the 



THB BARBARIAN INUNDATION. 65 

Alps. This gave the great Marius opportunity to beat them in 
detail. The turn of the Teutones catne first. They were com- 
pletely broken, and 100,000 corpses bred pestilence and gave 
name to the modern Pourrieres, which is simply the campus 
pulridiis of Marius. The Cimbri got down to Lombard plains 
and waited for the allies, who did not come. Marius came in- 
stead. They asked lands. " Give us land," they said, " for us 
and for our brethren." "Your brethren have all the land they 
need the other side of the mountain," was the grim reply. 
They fought. The Cimbri fared as the Teutones had fared the 
year before, and Rome was saved. 

^ Probably stabbed oif her bridal night by Ildico, a l)eautif ul 
German girl, whom he had compelled to take place among his 
already numerous wives. The Huns said he died of hemorrhage. 
The Germans believed that their kinswoman had avenged her 
shame by the dagger. 

*This battle, little known and seldom mentioned, quite pos- 
sibly was as vital to the'world as Chalons. 

^The terrible Vandal chief was summoned by Eudoxia, the 
widow of murdered Emperor Valentinian and wife of murderer 
Maximus, now Emperor. Valentinian had violated the wife of 
Maximus, who slew his master and retaliated in kind upon his 
wife. Forced into unwilling wedlock, Eudoxia called upon 
Genseric to avenge her wrongs. 

^Ricimer was general-in-chief of Roman army. Odoacer be- 
gan so, but went farther, whining kingship. Theodoric estab- 
lished kingdom as conqueror. 

^ Romulus Augustulus. His youth, beauty, and terror saved 
his life. Odoacer sent him into elegant retirement, to be used 
as a tool of his master. 

^ Might have been held permanently but for miserable jeal- 
ousies at Constantinople. Greatness in a general could not be 
tolerated. So Belisarius and Narses were hampered and finally 
destroyed because they were able. 



SEC. 5. VICTORY. 

What did it all mean ? Did the twelve vultures of 
Romulus signify twelve centuries? The twelve cen- 
turies had run out and Roman dominion was no more. 



66 the: barbarian inundation. 

Can we tell why Rome fell ? We can see at least this 
far : i. The typical Roman spirit was no more. The 
citizen came to live not for the State, but for himself.^ 
2. lyUxury and idleness had become a disease. Irre- 
ligion, immorality, cruelt}^ lust of blood fostered by 
gladiatorial shows aggravated the disease.'^ 3. The 
slave population had become enormous. Free labor in 
consequence became disgrace. 4. There was no true 
middle class. The Roman administration needs no 
other condemnation than this. 5. Frequent change of 
emperor resulted in weakened allegiance. 6. Division 
of empire destroyed old center and distracted loyalty. 
7. Claims of militar}^ service were no longer recognized. 
The citizen soldier^ who made dominion possible was 
only a memory. 8. Consequent reliance upon merce- 
naries.* Thus the barbarian was taught the art of war. 

9. Absence of barrier to barbarian flood. Wave fol- 
lowed wave. The tide rose and overflowed everything. 

10. The simpler, purer, stronger life of the barbarian 
which gave victory to the better man. The Eastern 
Empire lasted a thousand years beyond the Western. 
For the Western the downfall was at once complete.^ 

^The rabble at Rome assumed to shape the destinies of th.e 
world. To it the destiny of the world meant bread and games 
for them , 

2 It is estimated that no State can without exhaustion support 
more than one-twentieth of its male population in idleness. 
The proportion at Rome was much greater. The state of morals 
is suggested by such names as Messalina, Agrippina, Poppjea 
Sabina. 

^ The Comitia Centuriata illustrates exactly this. 

* Constantine sought to break the power of the army as a po- 
litical organization. This he accomplished b}^ separating it from 
civil duty, by stationing troops where national sympathies would 
little affect them, by lessening the size and multiplying the num- 
ber of legions, by developing four distinct grades of service : 



the: barbarian inundation. 67 

Palatini, the garrisons of imperial residences ; Comitatenses, the 
imperial suite ; Castriani and Riparienses guarding the fortresses 
and frontiers. By this means barbarians were admitted to very 
heart of empire. 

^ The barbarian kingdoms were: I. Suevi, northwestern Spain, 
409-585. Fell to Visigoth. 2. Burgundian, southeast Gaul, 413I 
534. Fell to Frank. 3. Visigoth, south Gaul and Spain ' 415- 
711. Fell to Arab. 4- Vandal, Africa, 429-534. Fell to East- 
ern Empire. 5. Anglo-Saxon, Britain, 449. 6. Frank, north 
Gaul, 486. 7. Ostrogoth, Italy, 493-555- Fell to Eastern Em- 
pire. 8. Lombard, Italy, 568-774. Fell to Charlemagne. 

SEC. 6. THE OI.D ORDER CHANGETH. 

The Barbarian visited the Empire with conquest, not 
annihilation. A city now and then was sacked. Here 
and there a community was blotted out. But civiliza- 
tion did not perish. Centuries of contact with culture 
had done much for the Barbarian. Most important of 
all, he was no longer a nomad. He had come to stay. 
Nor was he longer simply a barbarian. Five centuries 
of schooling had taught him a wondering kind of sym- 
pathy for the learning of the people he was destined to 
conquer. Many had become Christians. The old pop- 
ulation was neither exterminated nor deported. The 
newcomer settled beside it or in the midst of it . Change 
of ownership came to the land, of course. State terri- 
tory passed to barbarian kings. Private land, too, was 
taken, when needed for new masters. Kach set of con- 
querors had its own rule ' of confiscation. The Vandal 
took everything. Ostrogoth took a third, Burgundian 
two-thirds, Visigoth two-thirds. Frank took what he 
needed — nothing but public domain north of Loire, 
private as well as public south of I^oire.""^ Amalgama- 
tion of peoples was imperfect. Sometimes they com- 



68 THE BARBARIAN INUNDATION. 

mingled, sometimes formed alternate strata, sometimes 
one or other entirely failed."'' Order was kept after a 
fashion, partly by Roman, partly by barbarian law.* 
Fusion came, though slowly. The result was about 
what might have been foreseen. A victorious people 
settling upon conquered territory is likely to wield the 
power while the conquered bear the burdens. Indi- 
vidual Romans bettered their condition by entering into 
German relations ; individual Germans were assimi- 
lated, for better or worse, to Roman conditions. In 
general, Roman influence chiefly dominated ecclesias- 
tical, educational, mercantile, and agricultural life, Ger- 
man influence chiefly military and political life. 

^ Vandal, Frank, and Saxon offered no excuse for appropria- 
tion other than the right of conquest. Goth and Burgundian 
appealed to jus hospitale, the convenient Roman arrangement 
by which auxiliaries were quartered upon a district. Herein 
doubtless they profited by experience, for the Goth at least had 
served as auxiliary to Rome. 

^This was when he drove Visigoth out of section south of 
Loire. 

^ A large proportion of cities were almost exclusively Roman. 

* Both were administered by the conqueror, often b}'^ aid of 
Roman officials. For interpretation of much Roman law bar- 
barian must have learned help. 

SEC. 7. GIVING PLACE TO NEW. 

The new order was not Roman, not German, but com- 
posite. The excellence of Roman law was recognized. 
It existed ' first side by side with barbarian codes' — 
Roman code for Roman subject, barbarian code for bar- 
barian. Presently provisions of the Roman code were 
incorporated bodily into the barbarian. The Visigoths 
succeeded in combining the two into a single system.'^ 
Old institutions were modified. The Roman built his 



'rHE BARBARIAN INUNDATION. 69 

State upon order, thinking little of freedom. The bar- 
barian emphasized freedom to the point of making order 
impossible. The reciprocal influence of these opposites 
begot a theor}' of government neither absolute nor in- 
dividual.* The arni}^ was not the professional fighting 
corps of the Roman, nor was it the mere comitatus'' of 
the German. The chief, already become king, was 
settled in hereditar}' office, to Roman taking place of de- 
funct emperor, to German representing war leader^ kept 
permanenth' in place because of troubled times. Power 
of headship grew at cost of assembly of freemen. As 
took place after Diocletian's organization of empire, an 
official nobility supplanted old order, person of king, 
now as then, constituting center. Ownership of land 
tended from common to individual holding. State 
and law and administration were on the way from per- 
sonal to territorial. Language suffered change. The 
Romance tongues are not Latin. The}^ are not barba- 
rian. Here, as elsewhere, a new order was under way. 

^ The barbarian conceived of law as personal, not territorial. 
When the Ostrogoth went among the Franks and was brought 
to trial it must be by Ostrogothic and not Frankish law. In 
other words, a man carried his law with him. It was only 
natural, therefore, that while the barbarian conqueror used con- 
queror's clear right to judge Roman he should judge him by 
the law of Romans. It was only what he would expect to have 
done for himself. 

-Of these there were several, e.g., Leges Barbarorum, as 
they were called. The most important were Lex Salica, Lex 
Ripuariofuni, Lex Wisigothorum, Lex Burgundionum, Lex 
Saxonum, Lex Frisionum. Over against these was Lex 
Rouiana. 

3 Territorial, not personal, indicating that Goth and Roman 
had settled down into one people. 

* Key to constitutional government lies in combination of ele- 
ments thus brouirht toofether. 



70 THK BARBARIAN INUNDATION. 

^Personal following of noted chief. Armed, fed, and led by 
chief, they were bound to protect and aid him, never failing, 
however sore the need might be. Especially significant insti- 
tution in relation to Feudalism. 

^ Offices of king and of military leader might be, very likely 
were in most cases, kept distinct. Reges ex nobilitate, duces 
ex virtute suinimt, says Tacitus. 

SEC. 8. REFLUX. 

The tide did not set forever south. After a few 
decades of settling a backward movement was trace- 
able. Several causes induced this : i. The pressure 
from behind apparently was not renewed. Later the 
mysterious impulses which drove forth Hun and Avar 
from the heart of AvSia would again work. Now all 
was quiet. 2. In absence of Turanian onset the Slav 
lay upon his arms. 3. The swirl of Mohammedan con- 
quest caught up the Vandal kingdom in Africa, leaped 
the Pillars of Hercules, drowned Spain, and, though 
beaten back by the iron wall of Franks at Tours, still 
covered more than half the Visigothic territory. 4. 
Political instinct was working out tolerable forms of 
national life. German individualism had found needed 
corrective in Roman imperialism. Out of these ideas, 
so antagonistic and j^et so truly complementary, came 
the possibilities of a new State, giiaranteeing at once 
liberty and order. This would find expression only 
through many a struggle. But at whatever cost, it was 
bound to come. 5. The first question was. Who should 
show the way ? Destiny said, the Frank. Thus the 
center of political gravity clearly shifted to the north. 
The barbarian wave was rolling back freighted with 
the issues of modern history. 



CHAPTER V, 



The Western Empire Restored. 



SEC. I. THK FRANK. 

Frank was a confederate^ name. It gets into history 
241.'' The Franks were Germans pure and simple. 
In good German fashion the}^ aUernatel}^ fought and 
served Rome. For several decades they were virtually 
the bulwark of the empire. As its allies they withstood, 
though with doubtful success, the flood of Vandals, 
Burgundians, and Sueves who at beginning of 5th cen- 
tury poured over southwestern Europe. They fought 
the Hun at Chalons in middle of century. Little by 
little they themselves encroached upon Roman ground. 
By 486 the}' were permanently established in Gaul. 
Henceforth for many a day they were to play a central 
part in history. Several considerations help to explain 
their strength, i. They held the line of communica- 
tion between Roman and German. Rome politicall}' 
was dead. The elements of her culture, so well deserv- 
ing to be permanent, must perish along with her polit- 
ical dominion, in absence of life, at once vigorous and 
sympathetic, to carry it on. The future depended upon 
the German forest. Between the dwellers there and 
the decaying civilization of the south stood the Frank — 
sufficiently Roman to prize order, sufficiently German 
to be strong and clean and brave. 2. They never cut 
loose from their base of supplies. Other tribes lost 
n 170 



72 THE WKSTKRN EMPIRE RESTORED, 

connection with old home. When exhausted they 
perished. Frank held fast, drawing as needed fresh- 
ness and vigor for larger tasks, conserving old institu- 
tions while winning new. 3. They legitimated conquest 
even in eyes of conquered by wise composition with 
Roman authority.^ 4. By prudent recognition of ortho- 
dox Christianity"^ they secured strong, spiritual founda- 
tion for their rule. Here are marks of natural and 
political power which come near to spelling the word 
destiny. The Frank vindicated destiny by rapidly and 
solidly won victory over all opposition. Within three 
centuries he was the mightiest ruler in the world. 

^ When Prankish history begins the tribes bearing the name 
were in three groups. By middle of 4th century they were in 
two divisions, the Salian Frank and the Ripuarian. Salians 
probably got name from river Yssel, Isala, Sala. Ripuarians 
almost certainly were named from Ripa, the bank. So the 
Romans referred to Rhine bank. Ripuarians were just dwellers 
on the bank, Salians were near coast about lower waters of 
Rhine, Meuse, and Scheldt. Ripuarians were on Middle Rhine, 
about Cologne. Many tribes made up confederacy — Sicambri, 
Chamavi, Bructeri, Chatti, Cherusci — to name a few of the best 
known. 

2 When troops of Aurelian after service on German frontier 
marched out to Persian war, they sang a barrack-room ballad : 
Mille Sarmatas, mille Francos, semel et semel occidimus ; 
Mille, mille, mille, mille, mille, Persas quserimus. 

The tribes that made the confederacy have been mentioned 
before. Here we have the corporate name. 

^The Franks acknowledged political supremacy of Rome, 
and by consent of Roman commander occupied much territory. 
So close were the relations between Roman and German that 
the Roman Master-General of Gaul was once elected king of the 
Franks. It was defeat at Soissons, in 486, of his sou Syagrius, 
"titular king of the Romans, that gave Franks the name as well 
as the fact of sovereignty over Gaul. 

*Most of the Germans who were Christians at all were Arian. 
Roman Gaul was orthodox. The Franks remained pagan until 



THE WESTERN EMPIRE RESTORED. 73 

496. In that year, in battle of Tolbiac against Alemanni, Franks 
were worsted until Clovis, in despair of aid from his ancestral 
gods, prayed the god of his Catholic wife, Clotilde, to help him. 
The tide of battle turned. Obedient to his battle vow, the 
Frankish king became a Christian. His warriors were as readv 
to follow him in baptism as in battle. So the Franks entered 
the church. 



SEC. 2. MEROVINGIAN RULE. 

The Frank in Germany had t3^pical German organi- 
zation, a republic of warriors. Each tribe had its chief 
or king elected b}- the whole body of freemen. War 
and migration inevitably increased power of leader. 
That kingship was not even then strictl}^ hereditary is 
shown by election of ^gidius, an outsider. Still the 
tendency was well settled toward succession within the 
royal house. The kingdom was regarded as king's 
possession, to be divided at death among heirs. What 
surprising vitality this conception has shown ! The 
first Frankish d3^na.sty was that of Merovius. The great 
king of the line was Clovis,^ 48 1-5 11. By splendid 
fighting abilit}^ he attracted an ever larger warrior fol- 
lowing, which he made irresistible b}^ discipline ' and 
daring. By his prudence ^ and justice he won confidence 
of both Frank and Gaul. At his death the Franki.sh 
kingdom embraced nearly all modern France, with a 
goodh^ strip beyond the Rhine. Clovis left successors 
to his kingdom, but none to his greatness. The prin- 
ciple of division* made strong government impossible, 
except for brief intervals. Merovingian liistor}^ ran 
through the following periods: i. Establishment of 
kingdom to death of Clovis, 511. 2. Disunion and con- 
flict, but with great enlargement of kingdom, to reunion 
under Eothar I, 558. 3. Redivision, with domestic and 
civil strife, to second reunion under Lothar II, 613. 



74 THE WESTERN EMPIRE RESTORED. 

4. A brief period of order to death of Lothar II, 627. 

5. Increasing worthlessness of the royal line. 6. The 
reign of the Major domus. 

^ Clovis was son of Childeric by Basina, the runaway Thurin- 
gian queen. Childeric, for his wildness, had been exiled by 
Franks. Part of his exile he spent at Thuringian court. When 
the Franks took him back Basina left her husband, frankly de- 
claring her passion for Childeric as the wisest, strongest, and 
handsomest man she knew. 

-This was all German lacked of beino^ great soldier. Clovis 
was very strict. No pillaging was allowed in peaceful country. 
Even carelessness, more yet disobedience, was punished with 
death. 

^Gibbon, Decline and Fall, IV, 448, says of him : " In all his 
transactions with mankind he calculated the weight of interest, 
of passion, and of opinion, and his measures were sometimes 
adapted to the sanguinary manners of the Germans, and some- 
times moderated by the milder genius of Rome and Christianity. " 

* Clovis left four sons. They quarreled with one another 
and fought the common enemy until three were dead, leaving 
Lotliar I sole king, 558-561. Lothar I left four sons. Six years 
later the eldest died, and the whole had to be reparceled among 
the three remaining. So it went until all came together under 
Ivothar II, 613, who reigned alone until his death, 627. From 
this time on the term rois faineants describes the line. 



SEC. 3. CAROLINGIAN SUCCESSION. 

Transition from Merovingian to Carolingian was 
mediated by the Major Domas.^ This fnnctionary had 
charge of royal household. He was the king's fore- 
man. Finally the foreman ousted his chief. In view 
of decay '^ of Merovingian dynasty, some one had to look 
after kingdom. It was perhaps natural that the king's 
domestic superintendent should be the man. So the 
Mayor of the Palace became Prime Minister. With 
war constantly waging, the Prime Minister was bound 



THE WESTERN EMPIRE REvSTORED. 75 

to be a warrior. A line of mighty fighting ministers 
appeared, who presently in the order of nature were 
ready for the throne. Four names are of special mo- 
ment. Pippin von Landen was Dagobert's minister. 
Pippin von Heristal, his grandson, was minister of 
eastern part of kingdom, now known as Austrasia. 
The Major Domus of Neustria, the western section, 
was so unpopular that Neustrian nobles sunniioned 
Austrasian minister to help them against their own 
minister. He came. Pippin von Heristal, beat his rival, ^ 
and so became Major Domus of entire kingdom. Karl 
Martell was illegitimate son of Pippin von Heristal. He 
waged successful war against Frisians and Saxons, ex- 
acted service for church lands, furthered missionary 
enterprise, and, victory for whole Western world, forced 
back Mohammedan invasion by battle of Tours, 732.* 
Pippin in, le Bref, followed his father, Martell. He 
ruled as Major Domus until 752. Then it seemed time 
that regal name should match regal power. ^ Childeric, 
the last representative of the long-since-vanished Mero- 
vingian power, was made a monk, and Pippin IH was 
hailed King of the Franks. 

^Apparently this office was originally one of menial service 
only about person of chief or king. Its importance grew, how- 
ever, until at beginning of 8th century the Major Domus was 
most important personage at the Prankish court. 

'^ The old monkish chronicle, which bears the name of Frede- 
garius, gives curious account of Basina's prophecy that so it 
would come to pass. On her bridal night with Childeric, Ba- 
sina '"said to her new husband, 'Go out quietly and tell thy 
handmaid what thou seest in the outer court of the palace.' 
So he arose, and saw the figures of beasts like lions and unicorns 
and leopards wandering about in the court yard. This he re- 
ported to his wife, and she said to him, ' My Lord, go out again 
and tell thy handmaid what thou hast seen.' He went out again 
and saw figures as of bears and wolves roaming about. And 



76 THE WESTERN EMPIRE RESTORED. 

when he had told her all this she bade him go out once more 
and tisll her what he saw. The third time he saw figures as of 
dogs and other small animals quarreling and fighting with each 
other. Next morning Basina said to Childeric, ' What thou 
hast seen in a vision is sure, and this is the interpretation of it. 
A son shall be born to us who will be strong as a lion, and his 
sons will be strong as a leopard and a unicorn. Their children 
will be strong and greedy, like bears and wolves. Those whom 
thou sawest when thou wentest out for the third time will be 
the last rulers of thy line. They will rule like dogs, and their 
power will be like that of the lesser beasts. The many other 
small animals which were quarreling and fighting with each 
other are the peoples, which, without fear of the rulers, shall 
war one upon the other.' " 

^This victory of Testry, 687, was mastery of Romanic by Ger- 
manic element of State. 

* Note should be made of importance of this contest. It was 
a life-and-death struggle between two races, two religions, two 
forms of government, two civilizations. 

^ Pippin sent to Pope Zachary the question : " With regard to 
the kings of the Franks, who at that time did not have the royal 
power, whether this was a good state of things?" Whereupon 
answer came : " It seems better that he who has the power in 
the State should he and be called king rather than he who is 
falsely called the king." 



SEC. 4. PRANKISH ALLIANCE WITH PAPACY. 

The conversion of Clovis was a great thing for the 
orthodox church.^ The Frank might know little of the 
metaphysical subtleties of a creed, but he could fight. 
The Frank gave the church a sword against the heathen 
and against the, to the devout Catholic, worse than 
heathen, Arian. Thus as early as 500 there was an im- 
portant relation between the Pope and the Franks. The 
trend of events made that relation steadil}'^ more impor- 
tant. The Eastern Htnpire still professedly ruled cen- 
tral and southern Italy ; "^ still claimed and sometimes 



THE WESTERN EMPIRE RESTORED. 77 

received the allegiance of the popes. But the breach 
between East and West constantly widened. The East- 
ern Emperor, legal defender of the papac}^ encouraged 
rather than dissuaded the spoliation of Rome. The 
Pope, already a temporal sovereign, though over scant 
domain, broke with Constantinople during Iconoclastic 
controversy,^ carrying with him the remnants of impe- 
rial dominion in Italy. Mutual recrimination only in- 
creased bitterness. A nearer peril was the Eombard. 
Hard pressed by him, successive popes sought Frankish 
aid. Karl Martell spoke fair, but was too busil}^ en- 
gaged otherwise and too intimately connected with 
Lombard* to make breach with him for Pope's sake. 
Pippin III smote the Lombard in name of God and 
Pope.^ The territory wrested from Lombard^ he gave 
to Pope, greatl}^ swelling papal domain. In return 
Pope blessed Pippin, confirming his title as king. 
Charlemagne renewed donation of Pippin, and a half 
century later was crowned by the Pope, not king of the 
Franks, but Roman Emperor. 

^ Gibbou calls attention to the fact that when Clovis ascended 
from the baptismal font he alone in all the world deserved the 
name of a Catholic king. The other Germans, as we know, 
were Arians. The emperor Anastasius was half heretic, hold- 
ing dangerovas errors concerning the incarnation. 

-But the Exarchate of Ravenna and the Duchies of Spoleto 
and Beneventum were practically independent. The Tope 
claimed Rome as gift of Constantine. 

^Leo the Isaurian, 718-741, condemned image worship, which 
was strenuously defended by Pope Gregory II, partly because 
he believed in it, parily to oppose the emperor. Attempts of 
emperor to reduce Italy failed, greatly strengthening papal 
power, both temporal and spiritual. 

* lyuitprand, the Lombard king, was martial godfather to 
Karl's son Pippin. 

^The Pope's affairs w^ere desperate. His appeal was the 



78 THE WESTERN EMPIRE RESTORED. 

strongest possible. The determining thing was a letter from 
St. Peter by hand of Pope Stephen : " I, Peter, the Apostle of 
God, who have accepted you as my sons, warn you to save the 
city of Rome from the Lombards. Do not endure that it should 
longer be tormented by its foes, else will your bodies and your 
souls, too, sometime be tormented in hell fire. Do not permit 
my people to be scattered abroad, else will the Lord scatter 
you abroad, as he did once the people Israel. Beyond all the 
other peoples of the earth the Franks have shown themselves 
submissive to me, the Apostle Peter, and on that account I have 
always heard their prayers when they have cried to me in need, 
and I will continue to give you the victory over A^our enemies 
if ye now come quickly to the aid of my city Rome ; but if ye 
disobey my injunction, know ye that in the name of the Holy 
Trinity I then exclude you from the Kingdom of God and from 
eternal life, in virtue of the power given me by the Lord Christ." 
^ At least part of this legally belonged to eastern emperor, 
who naturally claimed it from Pippin, but Pippin said, "No; 
whoever might have held it before, it was now going to the 
Pope." No Pope after this sought confirmation from eastern 
emperor. 

SEC. 5. CHARLEMAGNE. 

Charlemagne is the French name of an out-and-out 
German. It makes little difference whether we speak 
the name in Latin, French, or German. In all lan- 
guages the man who bore the name was " the great." 
His most patent right to the title was military.^ In a 
series of marvelous campaigns he strengthened and ex- 
tended Frankish dominion, i . He conquered the Lom- 
bards, winning kingship of ITombards, later superseded 
by kingship of Italy. 2. He broke the Saxon power 
in bloody wars. For a third of century Saxon revolt 
and re-subjugation constituted a regular part of Karl's 
programme. 3. He ended the half independence of 
Bavaria. 4. He reduced the Avars, a new Mongolian 
swarm. 5. He forced back the Moors, recovering the 



THE WESTERN EMPIRE RESTORED. 79 

north of Spain to Christian rule. So enormous terri- 
tory was won. The problem of unit}' was greatly sim- 
plified by coronation of Karl as Emperor.' What the 
King of the Franks could hold together only by the 
sword which conquered it might become a living organ- 
ism through the memory of Rome. So to power based 
on headship of Germanic race and partnership with 
Pope in Christian sovereignty was added the spell of 
the Roman name" that never had been broken, though 
three centuries had passed since the fall of the old 
empire. 

^ He fought out man}' issues only partly settled by his prede- 
cessors. The records of his expeditions read like a fairy tale. 
We know of fift3'-three campaigns, nearly all led by him person- 
ally — eighteen Saxon, three Danish, one Bavarian, four Slav, four 
Avar, twelve Saracen, five Lombard, two Greek, one Thuringian, 
one Aquitanian, two Breto^i. 

^ 800. Men had never conceded that the Roman empire had 
ceased to be. Odoacer sent the imperial insignia to Constanti- 
nople 476. Since then there had been no western emperor. 
Now the Romans reserve the right to choose an emperor for 
themselves. The time was well chosen. The throne at Con- 
stantinople was occupied by Irene, who had deposed and blinded 
her son, the true ruler. The Roman system had no place in it 
for a woman emperor. Constantine took the center of empire 
to the Bosphorus. Karl wdll bring it back to its old place on 
the Tiber. Even when in the East new emperors were crowned 
there was no difficulty. It was by no means the first time that 
there had been several rulers without impairing the unity of the 
empire. Karl, however, was regarded as successor of Constan- 
tine VI. 

3 This factor was very important, i. Men remembered that 
the oppression of the old da3's was compensated by at least the 
semblance of order. 2. Christianity was a great maker of unity. 
3. The onslaught of Islam had emphasized the importance of 
unity among Christian believers. 3. A visible poHtical order 
was to the thought of the period a necessary counterpart of tlie 
kingdom of Christ on earth. 
12 



8o THE WK.STKRN EMPIRE RESTORED. 

SEC. 6. ADMINISTRATION. 

The merits of Karl's administration were chiefly : 
I. Order. 2. Energ}^ 3. Personality. The purpose 
was doubtless alwa3^s better than the performance. 
More unmanageable material could not well have been 
found. The most statesmanlike genius could hardly 
have wrought complete success with it. In comparison 
with what went before and w^hat came after, the rule 
of Karl was both strong and good. i. The empire was 
loosely divided into districts with local organization. 
Some of these districts were simply old independencies 
reduced to provinces with national leaders, the dukes. ^ 
Others were territories large or small, or even single 
cities, ruled by counts and necessary under-oiflcers. 
Officials held place at emperor's pleasure, but the offices 
tended to become hereditary. 2. For immediate over- 
sight, 7nissi dominici,^ the lord's messengers, went two 
by two, usually a secular and a clerical, to make per- 
sonal examination for the emperor of all matters of ad- 
ministration throughout empire. 3. Exacting an oath 
of allegiance to himself as emperor, Karl bound every 
freeman in the empire to his own person. Teutonic 
traditions did not wholly lapse. As in the old days, 
once always, often twice, in the year the assembly of 
freemen was held.^' All this looks well, better, doubt- 
less, than it worked, but it was a giant's task to win 
even so much for government. 

^ One meets coutiuually dukes and. counts in the okl narra- 
tives. That is all right until one discovers that they are busied 
about the same tasks. The dukes did not possess jurisdiciio, 
and yet they judge. The counts had no great territories like 
the duchies, ever tending to become independent States, and 
yet the greatest lay dignitar}^ in the empire was a count. Clear- 
ness comes only from noting original distinction. The duke 
was the head of a people, their natural leader, the national chief. 



THE WESTERN EMPIRE RESTORED. 8 1 

who would be king if people were independent. The count was 
a royal officer, holding appointment directly and solely from 
king or emperor. The dukedom represented local, or, better, 
national feeling. The countship represented royal authority. 
But ere long functions were commingled. Dukes had "rights 
• of count." Counts came to exercise semi-independent rule. 

'^ Their business was to oversee as their royal master would if 
he were present. 

^ But it must be admitted that the emperor was practically 
absolute. 

SEC. 7. RELIGION AND LEARNING. 

Karl was a true defender of the faith. Whatever the 
Pope thought about spiritual headship, Karl regarded 
himself lord of both Pope and Church. Among great 
officers of empire were bishops with wide domains. 
Karl treated them as he did other officials. As con- 
tributing to order, he developed regular hierarchy — 
priest, bishop, archbishop, provincial synod— ending 
in king. He lectured the Pope on doctrine,' the clergy 
on morals, ' nominated to ecclesiastical vacancies, fur- 
thered missionary enterprise, ^and, in general, discharged 
the office of friend and patron of religion. 

To the cause of learning the great Carolingian was 
faithful. He says himself: ' ' Desiring that the state of 
our churches shall more and more improve, and wish- 
ing by constant care to revive the cultivation of learn- 
ing, which has almost perished through the indolence of 
our forefathers, we by our own example encourage all 
whom we can attract to the study of the liberal arts." 
Karl was true to his word. Himself a good scholar 
for his day,* he gathered about him great leaders of 
thought. Einhard lived at his court. So did Alcuin 
of York, Paul the Deacon, Peter of Pisa, Angilbert, and 
Theodulf. He had a court school which he attended 



82 THE WESTERN EMPIRE RESTORED. 

with his children, and he encouraged the establishment 
of schools in the monastic and ecclesiastical centers- 
Great literary quickening followed. The result was 
not inconsiderable, but one fatal defect was evey where 
apparent. This renaissance, unlike its successor five 
centuries later, found no native issue. To the last the 
culture of the age of Charlemagne was Roman — a bor- 
rowed thing. 

^ The Nicsean council of 787 approved the use of images, both 
for ornament and for devotion. Pope Hadrian endorsed the 
decision. Karl declared the decision of the council, just ap- 
proved by Pope, false and pernicious. Concerning the proces- 
sion of the spirit, whether from the father only or ex patre 
filioqiie, the Nicene creed teaches the former doctrine. Karl 
called council at Aachen, 809, which wrote into the western 
creed the filioque, and Pope endured it. 

^ This is the more interesting from fact that Karl's own morals 
were not exactly sound. He repudiated his first wife because 
not personally agreeable to him. Three, some say four, wives 
followed in succession. At last, grown chaste, he did not marry 
again, but modestly contented himself with four concubines. 
His family appears to have been quite in S3mipathy with him. 
His daughters, whom he would not allow to leave him, never 
married, but nevertheless reared several children at their father's 
court. 

3 He bade the Pope pray earnestly for the success of the ex- 
peditions he undertook for subjugation of pagans and for estab- 
lishment of sound doctrine. The Saxon wars at once secured 
the empire and added to the number of the faithful. 

*Kitcliin, History of FrancCj I, 119, says that after Alcuin, 
Karl was accounted the most learned man in his empire. 

SEC. 8 PARTITION AND WEAKNESS. 

Many a cloud darkened the last da3^s of Charlemagne. 
Enemies were at the gate. Darker yet was the shadow 
of death. Of three sons, only Louis was left.^ A gentle 
soul, more fit for the cloister than for the court, lyouis 



THK WESTERN EMPIRE RESTORED. 8- 

saw his empire crumble. Tendency to fall apart was 
confirmed by emperor himself, by assignment to sons 
of^ various kingdoms.^ Jealousy, intrigue, revolt, un- 
filial passion, broke the father's heart.-' Fratricidal 
strife followed.* Peace was restored by the famous 
treaty of Verdun,^ 843. This peace, however, meant 
virtual dismemberment of the empire. The imperial 
name diverged more and more from imperial power. 
Emperor, king, and prince counted his domain a thing 
to be parceled out, a combination of real and personal ' 
property subject to testamentary will of ruler. For a 
moment, under che bulky incapacity of Charles the Fat, 
the dominions of Charlemagne were again one. But 
lands and peoples and names of power avail little in 
absence of a leader, and Charles the Fat was no leader. 
For a leader the world had a half century still to wait. 



' Pippin died 810, Charles 811. Karl had carefully arranged 
succession by naming Charles as Emperor, Pippin King of Italy, 
Louis King of Aquitaine. Death of brothers made Louis sole 
heir. 

-Herein following intention of his own father. Lothar, 
Louis, and Charles were the three involved. 

•* To bishops interceding for rebelHous son Louis the Emperor 
said, " I pardon him, but let him know that he has killed me," 
and died. 

*Of the numerous combinations, that of Louis and Charles 
against Lothar was most memorable for famous oath of Strass- 
burg, 842. This oath, as notable for literature as for politics, was 
pronounced by each leader in the language of the other, Louis 
takmg It in French, Charles in German. Louis swore: Pro Deo 
amur, etpro Christian pablo, et nostro commun salvament, d'ist 
di en avant, in quant Deus savir et podir me dunat, si salvarai 
eo cist meon fradre Karlo et in adjudha et in caduna cosa si cum 
om per dreit son fradra salvar dist in o quid il mi altresi fazet ; 
et ab Ludher nul plaid numquam prindrai, qui meon vol cist 
meon fradre Karle in damno sit. Charles swore, In Goddes 
minna indum tes Christianes solches, ind unser bedhero gehalt- 



84 THE WESTERN EMPIRE RESTORED. 

nissi for thesemo dage frammordes, so frani so mir Got gewizei 
indi madh furgibit so hald in tesan minau bruodher soso man 
mit rehtu sinan bruder seal, inthiu thaz er mig soso ma duo ; 
indi mit Ivuhteren inno kleinnin thing ne geganza zhe minan 
vvillon imo ce scadhen vverhen. 

"For the love of God and for the Christian people and our 
common salvation, from this day forward, and as long as God 
shall grant me knowledge and power, I will support my brother 
(Karl or Louis), here present, with aid and in everything, as it 
is right that one should support his brother, whilst he shall do 
the same for me, and never with Lotliar will I make any pact 
which, with my will, shall be to the damage of my brother." 
The two peoples confirmed the oath of the brothers, each people 
swearing in its own tongue. 

Franks : Si Lodhuvigs sacrament que son fradre Karlo jurat, 
conservat, et Karlus meos sendra de suo part non los tanit, si io 
returnar non lint pois, ne io nenuels cui eo returnar int pois, in 
nulla adjndha contra Lodhuvig nun lin iver.« 

Germans : Oba Karl then eid er sineno bruodher Ludhuwige 
gessuor geleistit, ind Ludnwig min herro then er imo gessuor 
forbrihchit, ob ina ih nes inwenden ne mag, nah ih, nah thero, 
noh hein then ih es inwenden mag, vvindhar Karle imo ce fol- 
lusti ne wirdhit. 

" If Louis (or Karl) keeps the oath he has sworn to his brother 
Karl (or Louis), and if Karl (or Louis), ru}^ lord, on his part does 
not keep it, if I cannot bring him back thereto, neither I nor 
any other will give him aid against Louis (or Karl). 

Here is first clear emergence of national French and German 
life. 

^Gave Charles France, Louis Germany, Lothar, with title of 
emperor, Italy and a strip running between France and Ger- 
man}^ clear to North sea. Roughl}'^ speaking, here are French, 
German, and Italian kingdoms recognized. 



SEC. 9. THE EMPIRE RE-FOUNDED. 

That leader was Otho the Great. On faihtre of direct 
line of Charlemagne the German kingdom passed by 
election to the Saxon-Franconian ^ house, related to the 
great Charles through female descent. The great 



THE WESTERN EMPIRE RESTORED. 85 

name of the line is Otho I. At first mindful only of 
his kingdom, Otho quelled the turbulent dukes of Ba- 
varia, Franconia, and Lorraine, quieted the Slav of the 
eastern marches, smote and broke the Mongol Magyar, 
and reduced Italy. ^ Coronation as emperor followed, 
962. The empire was in order once more. But the 
empire of Otho the Great was not that of Karl the 
Great. It was less extended, less ecclesiastical, less 
centralized, less Roman. In theory it was a world- 
state giving body to a world church. In fact, it was 
the political union of Germany and Italy " under Ger- 
man sovereignty, in ill-defined alliance with the Chris- 
tian religion as represented by the papal hierarchy. 
Succession to headship of empire was determined by 
two principles: i. The election of the German Diet 
carried with it the rule of Italy as well as that of Ger- 
many. 2. But the king so made must not assume im- 
perial title until crowned by Pope. Serious conse- 
quences were locked up in these principles, both for 
state and for church. 

^ A touch of romance brightens the record of the struggle by 
which the anarchy of half a century was ended. The ItaHan 
kinghng Berengar was disposed to force the widow of his pred- 
ecessor into marriage with his son. The widow, young and 
beautiful, had no mind to the union. She appealed to Otho, 
who espoused her cause and then herself, conquered Berengar 
and reduced the peninsula to order. 

^An unnatural union fraught with disaster for both. Ger- 
many wasted on foreign wars, in pursuit of a phantom, strength 
needed for home development. Italy was dominated by a for- 
eign power which it could neither destroy nor endure. 

SEC. 10. EMPEROR AND POPE. 

The theory of headship was beautifully simple. The 
Pope controls the souls of men, God's representative 



86 THE WESTERN EMPIRE RESTORED. 

for Spiritual rule. The Emperor controls the bodies of 
men, God's representative for political rule. The rule 
of each is universal within its sphere, the two together 
matching the indivisible and universal sovereignt}'- of 
God. Through both God speaks. Commands to the 
spiritual life he issues through the Pope, commands to 
the secular life through the Emperor. Conflict of au- 
thority is inconceivable,^ for are they not the servants 
of the same King, equal, and appointed each to sup- 
port the other ? Three times '^ this theory was realized. 
For the rest the two vicars of God strove to prove their 
heavenly appointment by deeds worthy of the devil. '^ 
Two theories took form, diametrically opposed, and 
both differing widely from the earlier view. i. The 
State-Church. This made the empire the great essen- 
tial, itself built of God and needing the Church only as 
an organ for its own spiritual work. The Pope is then 
only the first bishop, 2. The Church-State. This 
made Church supreme, the empire its servant. Soul 
works onl}^ through bod}^, but soul is the important 
thing. By so much as eternal is better than temporal, 
is authority of the minister of the soul greater than that 
of the minister of the body. Theories so widel}^ di- 
vergent could end only in conflict. 

^The thought of unity of authority, notwithstanding plurality 
of co-ordinate powers, was not strange to Roman and Mediaeval 
times as it is to us. The two consuls had equal authority. Two 
emperors held swa}', east and west. No one dreamed, however, 
of divided rule. So with Emperor and Pope. Each had abso- 
lute power. Collision would be the less likely because of clear 
distinction between spheres. So men reasoned. 

2 Under Charlemagne and Leo III ; Otho III and Gregory V 
and Sylvester II ; Henry III and papal line from Gregory VI to 
Victor II, Henr^^'s own appointees. 

^Disregard of spiritual claims and personal vice make up bad 
account of emperors. Simony and moral corruption make up 



THE WESTERN EMPIRE RESTORED. 87 

worse account of popes. John XII was surpassed in wicked- 
ness onl}' by Alexander VI. Practices not only unpriestly, but 
to the last degree unchristian, made spiritual high places the 
abode of demons. Pride, ambition, extortion, invasion of the 
civil domain marked every stage of papal development. The 
Kingdom of Heaven was furthered in singularly worldly ways. 

SEC. II. GREGORY HILDEBRAND. 

The church protagonist was Gregory VII, Hilde- 
brand.^ The times were favorable to papal claims. 
I. Steadily enlarging rights from diocesan to metro- 
politan, from metropolitan to oecumenical,'^ the chair of 
St. Peter had become the seat of authority for orthodox 
Christianity. 2. The forged donation ^ of Constantine 
for centuries had currency as real conveyance of West 
to Pope. Emperor gone, Pope was unquestionably 
most prominent figure in Rome. Through troubled 
days between fall and restoration of empire, the chief 
centralizing and preservative* force was the Pope. 3. 
Charlemagne received crown from Pope, and served as 
great warrior of church. Otho the Great went to Rome 
at summons of Pope^ and refounded the empire, in 
papal partnership. To the German papal investiture 
can hardly have meant what the papal leaders after- 
ward claimed it meant. But here were events clear to 
the eyes of all, and we are at no loss to see how from 
them grew strong support for the papal theory. 4. Not 
less important was recent personnel of papacy. The 
rottenness ^ that had at once disgraced and weakened 
Christianity at the center no longer existed. With 
strong hand Otho, and after him Henry III, had 
wrought betterment. A succession of able prelates fol- 
lowed. 5. Emperor Henry IV was scarcely more than 
a boy — sensual, passionate, willful. 6. Church and 
13 



88 THE WESTERN EMPIRE RESTORED. 

clergy manifestl}^ needed reform. The great Gregory 
was the man for the hour. With incredible boldness 
he declared the abuses intolerable and insisted that they 
should stop. His demands included three main issues : 
(i) Return to old church laws requiring celibacy, (2) 
abolishment of simony, (3) freedom of spiritual office 
from secular authority. 7. Succession to the papal 
office was better safeguarded.' 

^ Hildebrand was apparently of Teutonic stock. His birth 
was humble, that of the son of a carpenter. He lived as a monk 
in his youth, diligently gathering what learning fell in his way. 
Promoted from post to post, he had unusual connection with 
person and work of no less than five popes. His own life was 
blameless. His contention with the empire had regard quite as 
much to reformation of clergy as to extension of ambitions of 
church. It was no mere boast w'hen he exclaimed at death, 
"I have loved righteousness and hated iniquity ; therefore I die 
in exile." 

^ Papal claims grew slowly. Primacy by courtesy was accorded 
bishop of Rome. Primacy 1)y courtesy passed into primacy by 
right, presently insisted upon as article of orthodox}-. 

^ Church leaders taught for centuries without question that 
transfer of civil government to Kast by Constantinople was due 
to emperor's desire to leave Pope untrammeled. Sovereignty 
of Rome was thus assured Pope. 

* We must not be blind to this. The barbarian spared Rome 
more than once, awed by Pope. More than once, too, after 
Constantinople had supplanted Rome as seat of government, 
the West was saved anarch}^ because a strong hand held the 
remnants of order together in Rome. Over against disintegrat- 
ing tendencies of centuries, between fall and restoration of 
Western empire — indeed, one might include the middle ages in 
the count — the one centralizing influence was the Church. It 
wrought doubl}' : i. It preached unity. 2. Its hierarchy, cen- 
tering in Pope, gave picture and frame of order. 

^John XII, who soon wished he had kept still, for Otho 
straightway undertook the reform of papal abuses. 

^Gibbon has suggestive paragraph on situation. After iron- 
ical justification of John's simony, gambling, drunkenness, and 



THE WESTERN EMPIRE RESTORED. 89 

invocation of pagan deities, he adds : " But we read with some 
surprise that the worthy grandson of Marozia lived in public 
adultery with the matrons of Rome ; that the Lateran palace 
was turned into a school for prostitution, and that his (John) 
rapes of virgins and widows had deterred the female pilgrims 
from visiting the tomb of St. Peter, lest in the devout actrthey 
should be violated by his successor." 

^ Hildebrand had been confirmed by Emperor Henry IV, as 
his predecessors had been confirmed by emperors. The original 
theory was that Pope, as bishop of Rome, owed election to 
people. So it went for centuries. If strong enough, emperors 
interfered much with popular election of Pope, putting forth 
candidates as they willed. By decree of Nicholas II, 1059, elec^ 
tion was given into hands of a college of cardinals, the presby- 
ters, and deacons of the Roman church, with the bishops of the 
suburban churches— offshoots of the Roman. Thus papal elec- 
tors were and are the officials of the Roman church, wherever 
resident. Confirmation of Pope by emperor was not recognized 
after Hildebrand. From this position Hildebrand went on to 
deny need of imperial investiture to any spiritual office. 

SEC. 12. CONFLICT AND COMPROMISE. 

The emperor declared the papal claim untenable. 
Great clerics were functionaries of the empire. Innu- 
merable holdings of prelates were clearly secular in 
character. A full third, perhaps half, of Germany was 
church land. It was impossible to ignore the secular 
element in this. To renounce all claim upon allegiance ' 
of these lands meant anarchy for great portions of em- 
pire ; if not anarch}^, then an independent empire which 
might easily become dangerous. So far the emperor 
acted in self-defense. Marriage or celibacy'^ for the 
clergy might remain an open question. Simony no one 
defended, though all practiced it.' Investiture was a 
different matter. The natural solution would seem to 
have been complete severance of spiritual and temporal 
interests. Let God and Caesar have each his own. 



90 THE WESTERN EMPIRE RESTORED. 

But men did not so see it in those days. The Pope was 
temporal sovereign as well as spiritual potentate. The 
same unfortunate commingling of .sacred and secular 
ran through the entire hierarch}^ The difference be- 
tween emperor and Pope seemed irreconcilable. Pope 
summoned emperor to Rome to be judged for his sins. 
Emperor convoked synod and deposed Pope.* Then 
Henry was excommunicated. The German princes 
upheld the Pope, and at Diet of Tribur, 1076, declared 
that the emperor must be reconciled to the Pope or lose 
his throne. The humiliation of Canosa followed.^ 
Henry got his revenge by sack of Rome and exile of 
Hildebrand, and then himself fell victim to revolt.^ 
His son succeeded to his realm and conflict. Empire 
and papacy were far apart as ever. Neither could 
claim entire victory. Compromise was affected in Con- 
cordat of Worms, 1 1 22, b}^ which emperor invested eccle- 
siastical feudatories with scepter, Pope invested with 
ring and staff. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of 
Caesar were not separated, but they were distinguished, 
which was much. 

^ Emperor was regarded as overlord of archbishops and bishops 
whom he invested with ring and staff — purely spiritual symbols — 
and as his liege men in regular temporal sense. 

^A celibate clergy was urged upon two grounds : i. For bet- 
ter, because more unreserved, service of church. 2. To prevent 
hereditary transmission of office and power. 

^ Every office had its price. Nor was the shameful practice 
due only to secular greed. Benedict IX sold the papacy itself 
to Archpresbyter John, Gregory VI. By his own admission 
John paid Benedict well, and paid well also for the popular vote 
which elected him. 

* Letter conveying decree read : *' We, Henry, by the grace 
of God king, with all the bishops of our realm, command thee, 
down, down." 

^ There was apparently as much diplomacy as penance at 



THE WESTERN EMPIRE RESTORED. 



91 



Canosa. Henry was put to shame, no doubt, and the empire 
was never the same after Canosa. But the "three days and 
three nights " of supplication appear to have been instead a few 
hours each day, under cover, with garb of penitent over cloth- 
ing. Pope's delay to receive emperor was as truly forced on 
Hildebrand as on Henry. Case had been referred to German 
princes, to whose meeting Pope was now moving. The Pope at 
last so far yielded as to absolve Henry as penitent. He went 
no further, however, and therein lay Henry's later grievance. 
Kmperor had done penance to get kingdom back, and kingdom 
was not given. He had put himself to shame without recom- 
pense. Presently the fire flamed up anew. 

« His son, afterward Henry V, stirred by Pope, dethroned him. 

SEC. 13. FREDERICK BARBAROSSA. 

Frederick I embodies better than any other single 
character the empire as against the papacy. Of tremen- 
dous will, strong personal influence, and great admin- 
istrative ability, he was filled with passion for imperial 
dignity in old sense.' The widespread renewal of law 
studies in his age added fuel to flame. The civil law 
justified the most extreme pretensions of imperial su- 
premacy.' Frederick Barbarossa was just the man to 
carry those pretensions into effect. He compelled order 
in Germany.^^ In Italy, however, he fared badly. In 
IvOmbardy had grown up many city republics. These 
the Pope united and led in opposition to the Kmperor. 
The battle of Legnano, 11 76, went wholly against Fred- 
erick. By the treaty of Constance, 1183, the virtual 
independence of the Lombard cities was recognized, and 
papal suzerainty over Tuscany reaffirmed. As these 
were the questions at issue, the outcome must be counted 
victory for the Pope. 

1 When he went to Rome for coronation he refused to hold 
Pope's stirrup, as required. Only when Pope threatened to with- 
hold crown did he perform service. 



92 THK WKvSTKRN EMPIRE RESTORED. 

vSoon after in appeal of Pope to Emperor the benefits of the 
church were spoken of as beneficia, which had no merely spirit- 
ual meaning in a feudal age. Frederick compelled the pontiff 
to take back the obnoxious word. 

^The absolutist pretensions of the old Roman emperors were 
transferred to the new Augustus. He was lord of world, foun- 
tain of law, sole dispenser of right and justice. Quoting Roman 
principle, the Archbishop of Milan, speaking for assembled mag- 
nates of Lombardy, said: " Do and ordain whatsoever thou wilt, 
thy will is law." 

^ " Uniting in his person the Saxon and Swabian families, he 
healed the long feud of Welf and Waiblingen: his prelates were 
faithful to him even against Rome : no turbulent rebel disturbed 
the public peace. Germany was proud of a hero who main- 
tained her dignit}^ so well abroad, and he crowned a glorious 
life with a happy death, leading the van of Christian chivalry 
against the Mussulman. Frederick, the greatest of the Cru- 
saders, is the noblest type of mediaeval character in many of its 
shadows, in all its lights." 

SEC. 14. THE CONTEST CULMINATES. 

Henry VI, Barbarossa's son, strove to win his princes 
to a plan of consolidation that would have made Ger- 
man}^, Italy, and Sicily a compact hereditary monarchy. 
Cut short by death, he bequeathed to his infant son his 
dominions, his ambitions, and the hardest battle of all 
for the empire. Causes spiritual and causes political 
intensified the struggle now become old. Delaying to 
fulfill a vow to lead a crusade, he was excommunicated. 
Going, he was excommunicated for not delaying longer. 
Finishing his work, he returned to be excommunicated 
for not w^aiting for his recall. His sympathy with the 
Pope was not increased by these unmerited cursings. 
The temporal dominions of tlie Pope were increasing by 
all possible means. The empire under Frederick II 
completely surrounded those dominions.^ Safety for 
the Pope's domain hi}^ only in breaking the circle. The 



THE WESTERN EMPIRE RESTORED. 93 

two sets of causes were combined. The old claims and 
counter-claims were repeated.^ At first Frederick pre- 
vailed. By treaty of Ugnano with Pope his spiritual 
disabilities were removed. He enforced the supremacy 
of the empire upon the . Lombards. He saw his papal 
antagonist die. But the tide turned. His son, stirred 
to revolt by the Pope, had to be imprisoned.^ The fact 
of repeated excommunications told against him. Alli- 
ance with Saracen, though winning Jerusalem from in- 
fidel, was counted an unholy thing. Treason met him 
on every hand, princes high and low counting it no sin 
to betray him who had defied the vicar of God. He 
died in sorrow, 1250. With him fell the empire. The 
papaL theory had prevailed.* Frederick would have 
been greatly comforted in death could he have read the 
future. The day was to come when the papacy would 
cease to be a temporal power, and when it could no 
longer make or unmake emperors. 

1 Henry VI married Constance, heiress of the Norman kings, 
with whom he received Naples and Sicily. 

2 "The pontiff asserted the transference of the empire as a fief 
and declared that the power of Peter, symbolized by the two 
keys, was temporal as well as spiritual. The emperor appealed 
to law, to the indelible rights of Ctesar, and denounced his foe 
as the anti-Christ of the New Testament, since it was God's 
second vicar whom he was resisting." 

3 Henry, who died 1242, after eight years' confinement. 

*A comparison between the rights of the papacy today with 
its claims of the middle ages may be commended as likely to 
yield fruitful results. 

SEC. 15. LATER HISTORY OF EMPIRE. 

The death of Frederick II was followed by the great 
interregnum.^ Then Rudolph of Hapsburg, too weak 
to be independent, too orthodox to be unsubmissive, was 



94 'I'HK WESTERN EMPIRE RESTORED. 

made emperor. The empire lasted still five hundred 
years, but it was henceforth a theor}', not a political 
power.'' Decadence may be traced through several 
stages. I . Loss of faith lessened sense of need of uni- 
versal empire.^ 2. Geographical discovery revealed 
lands undreamed of earlier, never touched b}^ Roman 
sway. 3. The Emperor, from being most powerful 
monarch in Europe, had become simply head of most 
powerful German State. 4. The Reformation, by di- 
viding Christendom, smote the old theor}^ at verj^ cen- 
ter. 5. The principle of nationality, especially as 
organized in modern State, turned the theory into a 
political anachronism. 

An outline of the entire period may prove serviceable. 
I. Foundation by Charlemagne and rule by Carolingian 
line, 800-962. 2. Refoundation by Otho the Great and 
rule by Saxon-Franconian line, 962-1138. 3. Hohen- 
staufen rule, 1 138-1250. 4. The Great Interregnum, 
1250-1273. 5. Hapsburg rule, divided almost equally 
by Reformation, 1273-1806. 

^ Collapse of order followed death of Frederick. Causes al- 
ready long at work increased power of nobles. The strongest 
emperor would have had hopeless task, since that which makes 
imperial power had been given away. Great lords had sover- 
eignty within their territories. Frederick II had himself greatly 
furthered this by pragmatic sanctions of 1220 and 1232, though 
it should be remarked that he thereby simply legalized rights 
long since recognized by custom. Loosed by death of emperor, 
disorder ran riot. After two decades the Pope warned electors 
to elect emperor, or he would himself appoint one. They com- 
plied, choosing Rudolph, Count of Hapsburg. 

^The emperor still stood for spiritual unity, peace, and law. 

^ It was ideal of universal church that compelled thought of 
universal empire. With lessened spiritual fervor, passion for 
State naturally declined as seeming less necessary. The sup- 
port of the later empire was spiritual rather than political. 



CHAPTER VL 



The Feudal System and Centralized 
Government. 



SEC. I. THE MIDDLE AGEvS. 

By this term we mark the less-known period which 
stands between the well-known classical era and the 
well-known modern era. We note: i. Duration. This, 
roughly speaking/ was a thousand 3'ears, from fall of 
Rome, 476, to fall of Constantinople, 1453. 2. History. 
Covers later phases of barbarian kingdoms on Roman 
soil; rise of Franks to barbarian headship; Carolingian 
empire; restoration of empire under Otho; spread of Mo- 
Jiammedanism ; the crusades ; growth of papal power ; 
struggle of empire and papacy ; development of feu- 
dalism ; emergence of national spirit, completing work 
recognized at Verdun. 3. Factors. Clearly discerni- 
ble are three: (i) Roman, contributing order, sys- 
tem, law ; (2) Barbarian, contributing vigor, personal 
strength, life ; (3) Christian, contributing spirituality, 
unity, brotherhood. 4. Spirit. Contradictory com- 
pound of : (i) Tradition, binding life to past ; (2) Faith, 
awakening boundless hope for future; (3) Universality, 

14 (95) 



96 THE FEUDAL SYSTEM AND 

political and spiritual, as demand of thought ; (4) In- 
dividualit3% as necessity of action ; (5) Worship of 
physical force; (6) Servile submission to spiritual au- 
thority; (7) Unquestioned orthodoxy ; (8) Unbridled 
passion; (9) Scholastic activity; (10) Intellectual bar- 
renness;'^ (11) Ecclesiastical democracy; (12) Spiritual 
despotism. 5. Institutions: (i) A world state, de- 
manding obedience of all subjects, lay and clerical, but 
compelled to acknowledge, first, the independence, then 
the primacy of the Pope ; (2) A world church, con- 
quering right to crown and uncrown emperors, but des- 
tined to find itself shorn of political prerogatives and 
limited, as is right, to spiritual functions ; (3) Feudal- 
ism, putting sovereignty in commission at the hands o^ 
the nobility, only after five centuries slow^ly giving way 
to central authority. 

' Dates must be regarded as approximate only. Other years 
are named for beginning and end. Thus some reckon from 768, 
when Karl became king of Franks, some from treaty of Ver- 
dun, 843. Again some carry period to discovery of America, 
1492, to Reformation, 1520, or even to peace of Westphalia, 
1648. 

- The scholastic philosoph}^ was based on authority. Its basis 
was composed of dogmas which no one thought of questioning. 
Its whole influence was against what we should call original re- 
search. A remark of Dyer, in his Modern Europe, is severe, 
but is worth pondering. " The result of the scholastic system 
was an intellectual condition approaching to fatuity." Ranke 
says, Historj' of the Popes : " It cannot be denied that, however 
ingenious, varied, and profound are the productions of the 
middle ages, they are founded on a fantastic view of the world, 
little answering to the realities of things." 

Still the term Dark Ages, so often applied to this period, should 
be used with moderation. As Hurgess says : *' On the contrary, 
they are full of light. In them the great questions of the rela- 
tionship of individual right to political right, of local govern- 



CKNTRAIvIZKD GOVKRNMKNT. 97 

meiit to central government, and of ecclesiastical government 
to secular government, were raised and drawn into conscious 
consideration." 



SEC. 2. FEUDAI.ISM A PECULIAR SOCIAL SYSTEM. 

Feudalism was an organization of society based on 
possession of land with corresponding personal obliga- 
tions. The king held all land in fief from God. To 
great men he granted portions at will, on condition that 
proper returns be made to him. He who held from 
king was at liberty to relet or sublet his holding. In 
such case the reciprocal guarantees passed between king 
and great tenant were repeated between great tenant 
and under tenant. Theoretically the subletting might 
go on indefinitely. Practically it never went beyond 
fifth or sixth degree of division. In early stages of 
feudalism allodial holdings were common beside feudal.' 
By degrees allodial were assimilated to feudal by sur- 
render of estate to be received back as bejiejicia with 
desired or needed guarantees. So it came about that 
men said: "No land without a lord." The feudal 
spirit went further. In times of disorder the weak man 
seeks the protection of the strong, for there is no public 
arm to defend him. Reciprocal pledges were given in 
commendation. 2 This became so common that men said : 
"No man without a lord." The beneficium was pri- 
marily a landed relation involving personal obligations. 
Commendation was a personal relation involving service 
or payment of money or land. Homage^ was common 
to both. Presently the personal bond was associated 
also with beneficiary tenures. The union of these two 
ties fill out the feudal idea, resulting in gradation of 
society into classes roughly determined by relation to 



98 THE FEUDAL SYSTEM AND 

land, serf, freedman, knight, arriere-vasssal, immediate 
vassal, suzerain. 

^The sj'stetn was never so perfect as completely to drive out 
allodial ownership. The tendency, however, was altogether 
away from sifcli ownership. The feudal idea was greatly 
against it. 

'^ Commendation was formally putting one's self under the 
protection of another. Kmerton cites an example. In this case 
the vassal is a poor man. " Since it is well known to every one 
that I have scarcely the wherewithal to 'feed and clothe myself, 
therefore I desire to beseech your charity that I might commend 
myself to your guardianship upon the following terms : That as 
long as I shall be able to serve you, you shall provide me with 
food and clothing, and that as long as I live I will give you sure 
and faithful service, and that I shall have no power to withdraw 
myself from your guardianship all the daj-s of my life, but shall 
remain under your power and defense. Wherefore it is provided 
that if one of us shall desire to withdraw from this agreement, 
he shall pay to the other party shillings." . 

^Openly and humbly kneeling, being ungirt, uncovered, and 
holding up his hands both together between those of the lord, 
who sat before him, and then professing that " he had become 
his }nan, from that day forth, of life and limb and earthly honor, ' ' 
and then he received a kiss from his lord. 



SEC. 3. ALSO LEGAL. . 

A patent feature of Feudalism was the immunit}'. 
This began as exemption from taxes. When the king 
gave a benefice he gave what had belonged to public 
treasur}^ and which therefore was untaxed b}^ treasury. 
Though henceforth a private holding, and so unpro- 
ductive of direct revenue as heretofore, the benefice still 
paid no taxes. The custom at first affected only eccle- 
siastical foundations' become beneficiaries. Immediate 
extension followed in two directions, i. Immunity 
was too valuable to be quietly left to ecclesiastical en- 



CENTRALIZED GOVERNMENT. 99 

jo3nnent.'' Before long secular beneficiaries enjoyed it 
as well. 2. Exemption from land burdens suggested 
exemption from other burdens. So it came about that 
conferring a benefice ultimately carried with it practi- 
cal sovereignty.. The holder had his own courts, his 
own levies of troops, his own revenue, his own budget, 
for none of which was he required to make answer to 
the king, though a form of words was supposed to 
recognize the central authority. The result was that 
the principal powers of the State were parceled out, 
only a vassal's portion or else a shadow, remaining to 
the king. 

' The reason urged was that there should be no disturl^ance of 
peace and order of sacred place b}- entrance of public ofificial. 
Charlemagne confirming immunity of Monastery of St. Mar- 
cellus said : '• To all having charge of our affairs : We command 
that neither you nor your subordinates, nor your successors, nor 
any person having judicial powers shall presume to enter into 
the villages which may at the present time be in possession of 
that monastery, or which hereafter may have been so bestowed 
by God-fearing men. Let no public officer enter for the hear- 
ing of causes, or for exacting fines, or procuring sureties, or 
obtaining lodging and entertainment, or making any requisi- 
tions, but in full immunity, even as the favor of former kings 
has been continued down to the present day, so in the future 
also shall it, through our authorit}', remain undiminished." 

'-'The troubled times under the grandsons of Charlemagne 
offered opportunities speedihT- improved by nobles to exact priv- 
ileges from the royal powder. 



SEC. 4. AND INDIRECTLY POLITICAL AS WELL. 

The political bearing of this is not hard to see. Legal- 
ized anarchy is a poor basis for a vState. One can no 
longer speak of a State, but rather of countless inde- 



l.tfC. 



lOO THE FKUDAIy SYSTKM AND 

pendencies within the geographical limits, and loosely 
held together by the name, of a State. The theory that 
the king owned the land and granted its use to tenants 
was more or less persistent,^ but ever\^ where the prac- 
tice was to regard the fief as property.. Sometimes by 
the king's consent, oftener without it, powers were as- 
sumed and exercised and were then justified by law. 
Great sinners in this regard were the court officers."^ 
With decay of Carolingian virtue these strengthened 
their hold on office, making them hereditary and then 
exalting themselves until they became mightier than 
the king.'^ In last quarter of loth century France was 
divided into nearly two hundred principalities,^ with 
sovereignty exercised by as many overlords.^ Other 
countries were not so badh^ off, but some were not far 
behind. Under such conditions it is useless to expect 
.strong government. 

^ Feudal tenures betray the original conception in a thousand 
ways. Lapse of fief on failure of family line, transmission in 
male line, relief paid by heir upon entering, forfeiture for gross 
violation of fealty, all point back to a time when the ownership 
was recognized as vested in the overlord of all, the king. 

"■^This was all the easier because of strong rule of early Caro- 
lingians. People had become accustomed to rule of these offi- 
cers as representing royal authority. 

^ Assumption of power is also chargeable to ducal ambition. 
Many of the old principalities — Bavaria, Saxony, Franconia, 
Burgundy, Aquetaine, etc. — resumed practically their old inde- 
pendence. Ruler claimed rights "by God's grace," the stand- 
ing formula of sovereignty. 

* These domains were subdivided into about 70,000 smaller 
fiefs. 

^ These acknowledged no legislative or judicial authority supe- 
rior to their own within their domain. The capitularies of 
Charles the Simple about 900, which no one pretended to mind, 
were the last public legislation for France until the Capetian 



CRNTRALIZKD GOVERNMENT. lOl 

line won power. Everywhere independent local cnstoms took 
the place of public law. 

vSEC. 5. ORIGIN. 

Several elements entered into the origin of feudal- 
ism. I. The Roman ideas of Coloni/ Laeti,^ and Em- 
phyteusis.' 2. The later Roman practice of buying Bar- 
barian military service b}- grants of land. 3. The Teu- 
tonic cojiiitaf us w'lih. its dominant personal element. 4. 
Sense of value of land bred in Teuton b}^ contact with 
settled race of Romans. 5. Acquisition by conquest of 
large territories* henceforth under Teutonic rule. 6. 
Appropriation to public use of great domain b}^ secular- 
ization of church estates.^ 7. Difficult}^ in Teuton of 
realizing value of strong central government. 8. The 
Middle Age tendenc}^ of privilege or office everywhere 
to become hereditary. No one of these elements was 
all. No one of them was without its effect. For the 
time and the place they made the Feudal vSystem in- 
evitable.' 

^ Partly from competition of Laeti and slaves, partly from 
crushing burden of imperial taxation, multitudes of small pro- 
prietors gave what little they had into hands of stronger neigh- 
bor in return for aid, perhaps an annuity as agreed upon. When, 
however, the imperial treasury refused to exempt from taxes 
those who thus put their property out of their possession, the 
small proprietor, worse oflF than before, threw himself wholly 
upon his patron, working for him as half slave, thus putting off 
with his land his rights as a freeman. To such was given name 
of col on us. 

'Laeti were conquered barbarians settled on limits of empire 
to till the ground, at least sufficiently to make them pay taxes, 
and to defend the empire. 

^A long lease calling for annual payments. Property so held 
could descend as family inheritance without interruption, but 



I02 THE FEUDAI. SYSTEM AND 

in case of desired sale it must be first offered to owner for re- 
demption. If the owner accepted a purchaser in place of old 
holder of lease, he expected a special payment for the favor. 

* Especially in Gaul. There public domain was so large that 
private property was not disturbed until conquest of Visigoths 
led Franks across the lyoire. 

^Karl Martell faced a hard problem. A good army he must 
have. The only way he could pay was in land. But he had no 
land left to distribute. Clovis could do as he liked, and had 
much land to give away. Because Clovis had done as he liked, 
Martell could not. Owners of allodial and holders of tributary 
land he could not disturb. Nothing but church land was left. 
This he took for his warriors. The dispossessed churchmen 
piously consigned him to hell, and later persuaded or frightened 
his son Pippin into restoring part of them. 

A little later the difficulty was met by church foundations 
performing vassal service by proxy. This was done by letting 
estates to fighting nobles. 

*^Guizot well sa5^s, in his Civilization in Europe: "A good 
proof that in the tenth century the feudal system was neces- 
sary, was the only possible social state, is the universality of 
its establishment. Wherever barbarism ceased, everything 
took the feudal form. At the first moment, men saw in it 
only the triumph of chaos ; all unity, all general civilization 
vanished. . . . It was, nevertheless, the beginning of a new 
and real society, the feudal, so necessary, so inevitable, so truly 
the only possible consequence of the anterior state, that all 
things entered into it and assumed its form." 



SEC. 6. EXTENT. 

To the question of extent the answer mii.st be two- 
fold. I. It embraced all life. Anything might be a 
fief — to hunt, to fish, to gather w^ood, to forage, to travel 
a given pathwa}^, official perquisites, special revenues, 
family privileges,' as w^ell as office and land. 2. Geo- 
graphicall}^ it covered France, Germany, Italj^ Sicily, 
northern Spain, England, Scotland, and Palestine.'^ 



CENTRALIZED GOVERNMENT. 103 

The development was by no means uniform in all coun- 
tries. ( France sliovved most complete form, as al- 
ready outhned. Even here, however, there w^re. im- 
portant variations in different parts of kingdom (2) 
Germany showed three forms, Hofrecht or pri'vate feud 
a>.sm, the later form of co„utaUs relation; Schutzrecht 
or the arrangement by which a freeman too poor to ride 
h^ own horse to war paid great man to represent him ; 
and Lehnrecht, based on official contract. (3) Itah^ 
found system hampered by relations with Pope and bv 
independence of communes.' (4) England was under'- 
going change in direction of feudalism when the Con- 
quest brought main features of Norman organization 
with great .saving exception, fraught with unspeakable 
ble.s.s.ng for later order, that the king from the first 
exercised strong, central, public authority. 

J'T'"" 'T'"," '■"'"°" '°° '^"'='' '° ^"^ '"™'1«I ""'!" claim 

o se,g„onal nght The most outrageo„,s violation of the houie, 

he disregard of the sanctity of marriage at its beginning, gave 

waj with growth of chivalry. None the less, Pin,, VL.l 

t^iTs^pTritTtr T' °'"^'=" ^^ p°'"""« o"' "- f-' "-t 

the spirit of this outrage was alive as late as early part of last 
century, as indicated by the bon mot of Montesquieu : " C'etoit 
blen ces tro.s nuits la, qu-il falloit choisir ; car pour les autres 
on n auro.t pas donne beaucoup d'argent." Tl,e story of the 
Doctor of Beauvais in "A Tale of Two Cities" also bears in- 
structive testimony on this point. 

^^ It will be noticed that this list names countries in which 
German and Roman influences met or which drew largely from 
such countries. Thus, illustrating the latter, Scotland got sys- 
tern from England. Palestine was a Norman kingdom 

By singular good fortune the communes enjoyed by turns 
the favor of church, emperor, and feudal chiefs To l)eo-i„ with 
emperor favored bishops as against counts seeking independ- 
ence. Then, to check bishops, become too strong, emperor aided 
15 



104 "^^^ FEUDAL SYvSTEM AND 

lay vassals. Finally, this proving insufficient, emperor used 
communes against episcopal sovereignty, while feudallords, dis- 
covering their importance, also aided communes against bishops. 
The result was strength which more than once withstood the 
empire itself. 



SEC. 7. GOOD AND EVIL. 

Feudalism was neither wholly good nor wholly evil.' 
I. It gave a semblance of political life. 2. It main- 
tained order after a fashion. 3. It co-operated with 
other causes to better condition of serf. 4. It exalted 
woman through sentiments exhibited in chivalry.'' 5. 
It inspired a literature which, though neither extensive 
nor strong, is yet precious. 6. It interposed a bar to 
political absolutism. 7. It renewed the ideal of pure, 
strong, truthful manhood." 8. It prepared, the way for 
modern justice * through its judgment by peers. 9. It 
emphasized the ideas of liberty and of private rights. 
But 10. Its whole tendency was toward political petti- 
ness, ir. It laid wholly unwarranted stress upon force. 
12. It fostered private war. 13. It meant perpetual dis- 
regard of public obligation. 14. In a word, it was the 
very opposite of good government. 

^ As Hallam suggests, we must be on our guard against judg- 
ing feudalism too severely. It is with the 9th, not with the 19th, 
century that we should compare the feudal period. " If the 
view that I have taken of those dark ages is correct, the state 
of anarchy, which we usually term feudal, was the natural re- 
sult of a vast and barbarous empire feebly administered, and 
the cause rather than the effect of feudal tenures. These, by 
preserving the mutual relations of the whole, kept alive the 
feeling of a common country and common duties, and settled, 
after the lapse of ages, into the free constitution of England, 
the firm monarcliy of France, and the federal vinion of Ger- 
many." 



CENTRALIZED GOVERNMENT. 105 

' Life in feudal times was in many ways favorable to woman. 
The great man, in spite of his wars, was a good deal at home. 
Compelled to make the best of family life, he discovered to his 
surprise that it was realh- very good company that he found 
there. 

^ Grave charges of falsehood, ingratitude, and treachery are 
made against the ages preceding feudalism. Violation of faith 
was the one thing feudalism would not endure. Its good work 
grew into flower and fruit in knighthood, which forbade cruelt}-, 
baseness, cowardice, ingratitude, untruthfulness, crime of every 
kind. The knight must be loyal to his lady, must be gentle, 
brave, courteous, truthfiil, pure, generous, hospitable, faithful 
to his engagements, ever ready to risk life or limb in the cause 
of religion or in defense of his fellow-knight. It would be idle 
to suppose that every professed knight was true to his vows. 
Everywhere painfully close lines were drawn about aristocratic 
privilege. This is the serious defect of chivalry. It was gentle 
blood that appealed to the knight. Toward all below the knight 
had only contempt. 

*The feudal courts undoubtedly did better than we suppose. 
Certainly the limitations of service, and the guarantees of recip- 
rocal obligation between lord and vassal, written into the law, 
speak well for the disposition to acknowledge rights. 



SEC. 8. THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT GATHERS 
STRENGTH. 

The fetidal s^-stem gave a governiiieiit neither" cen- 
tralized nor free. In the nature of things, it must give 
way. With all its care for the fulfillment of reciprocal 
pledges, it was a great system of privilege enjoyed by 
nobles and barons at expense of all classes abov^e and 
below. It is matter of surpassing interest to watch 
central power regather force. The beginning was made 
in France. It was a beginning feeble and unpromising. 
When Hugh Capet was crowned, 987, while titular 
king of France,' he had to measure strength with near 



I06 THE FKUDAI, SYSTEM AND ' 

two hundred dukes, counts, and lords, many of whom'' 
were certainl}- not less powerful than he. Theoretically^ 
he was suzerain of them all. Reall}^ he reigned in the 
Duchy of France.'^ Good statesmanship, good fighting, 
and good succession* steadil}^ increased Capetian do- 
main^ and royal power, the latter profiting always by 
the former. The Duchy of France was transformed 
into the Kingdom of France. From being the peer of 
several princes, the king became greater than any, pres- 
ently greater than all. After the start was well made, 
the advantage was so manifestly on the side of strongly 
administered central government that though the strug- 
gle might be, as it was, long, the issue was never 
doubtful. 

^ He was elected by the great princes, 

2 The Counts of Flanders, Champagne, and Verniandois, and 
the Dukes of Normandy, Brittany, Bnrgvmdy, and Aqnetaine re- 
garded themselves and were regarded by others as the new 
king's equals. 

^ A long and narrow strip cut in half by vSeine and running 
south to Loire, surrounded by other independencies, and, so, 
ill-defended, but, vital fact, central. 

*The unbroken line of Capet ruled France until the Revolution. 
Royalt}' was abolished September 21, 1792. The following Jan- 
uary Louis XVI was executed. At his trial he was designated 
Louis Capet. The line, however, had three main divisions : i. 
The direct succession or Capetian, 987-1328. 2. House of Valois, 
1328-1589. 3. House of Bourbon, 1589 to Revolution. 

^By end of 13th century France was one of the most compact 
and powerful kingdoms of Europe. 



CENTRALIZED GOVERNMENT. I07 



SEC. 9. AIDS. 

Many causes aided mightil}" to further ro^^al power. 
I. The idea of kingship as embodiment of unit}^ and 
order had never wholly faded.' 2. The inherent weak- 
ness of feudalism as a political system."^ 3. General 
weariness of aristocratic brigandage.'* 4. Gradual in- 
crease of intelligence with better shaping of political 
instinct. 5. Slow but persistent reaction against indi- 
vidualism. 6. The genealogical accident of direct and 
undisputed succession in Capet family for three and a 
half centuries. 7. Rise of middle class* to back king 
in struggle with nobles. 8. The Crusades.^ 9. Change 
in methods of warfare." 

^ While no one would hesitate to violate this idea whenever it 
barred his personal interest, there were multitudes of cases aris- 
ing constantly in which the idea would be the determining ele- 
ment. When Athos counsels Raoul in Le Vicomte de Brage- 
lonne, to distinguish between substance and shadow, it is the 
royalty of the king he calls substance, the person of the king 
shadow. So in many a trying hour the mind must have been 
steadied against disorder by conception of central power as de- 
fense of oppressed and weak, however little that conception 
answered to the facts at a given moment. 

'■* Essentially the negation of a State until kingship becomes 
sufficiently powerful to compel allegiance and obedience to 
suzerain itself. After gathering up all fiefs into his own domain, 
Louis XIV could say, "I am the State." In a way, that is the 
perfection of feudalism. But in such case the essential marks 
of feudalism are wanting, in that all have become immediate 
vassals of one lord, so that there is no typical hierarchy. 

^The stipulated feudal aids were supplemented by many 
others, the number and value of which depended upon relative 
strength of lord and vassal, high and low. The killing thing 
was the uncertainty of irregular ' * aids. ' ' Then the great law of 
intercourse was for long just lex talionis, with its infinite bitter- 



Io8 THE FEUDAL SYSTEM AND 

ness aud bloodshed. In spite of religiosity, which kept the 
name of God upon the lips of men continually, the real worship 
was that of Mezentius : Aen. 7:648sq., "My right hand, my 
God." It was the day of the strong against the weak. The 
feudal lord is admirably described by Wordsworth in Rob R03' : 

" The good old rule 
Suffice th them, the simple plan, 
That they should take who have the power. 
And they should keep who can." 

* Part of Rome's decay lay in disappearance of middle class. 
The common freeman found no place. The Middle Age ten- 
dency was toward social cleavage into great or nothing. The 
cities were center and soul of movement re-creating the common 
man. On the Lombard plains especially, and then throughout 
all the north, cities grew up. Though part and parcel of the 
feudal system, they progressively demanded and secured, some- 
times by purchase, sometimes by revolt, concessions secured by 
charter. Thus in greater or less degree they became independent. 
Presently the cities played a very important part in national 
life. Leagues like the Lombard or Hanseatic could dictate terms 
to emperors. In return for constitutional guarantees they aided 
king as against nobles. Much of the political, legal, and literary 
leadership of the later Middle Ages came from the citizenship 
of the communes or free towns. 

^ Nobles must have money, for which they mortgaged great 
estates, or for which they granted new rights, which thereby fell 
ultimately into hands of king or rich commoners. Many were 
slain. Many returned to find old domain rightly or wrongly 
forfeited, or more or less violently wrested to new sovereignty. 

^ Burghers and yeomen learned that they, too, could fight. At 
Courtrai, Crecy, and Poictiers they broke the power of French 
chivalry. A standing army made the king independent of feudal 
levies. Fire-arms supplanted lance and battle-axe and made 
the heavy armor of the knight not only useless but dangerous. 



cen'Trauzkd Government. 109 



SEC. 10. THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT PREVAlLvS. 

Not everywhere. Germany, as yet incurably indi- 
vidualistic, must learn the value of unity through cen- 
turies of sore travail. The general conditions were 
favorable for the making of a strong German kingdom, 
answering in compactness to the French. Saxon, Swa- 
bian, Thuringian, Bavarian, even East Frank, were 
closely allied racially and by custom. Had the central- 
izing influence been a little stronger, apparently all 
would have been well. As it was, the centrifugal force 
prevailed.^ The result was a loose confederation, ' with 
internal relations forever changing. Italy, too, was 
without national life or national government. Perpetual 
interference' from without and perpetual discord within 
made settled history impossible. But of France, Spain, 
and England a different story may be told. 

'An accident of birth greatly aided. Whereas in France Hugh 
Capet furnished direct male descendants for three hundred and 
forty-one years, in Germany three successive d3aiasties failed 
for lack of male heirs. Other causes combined with this — aristo- 
cratic ambition seeking to lessen royal power lest, being strong, 
it curb them ; ecclesiastical influence, which would make head- 
ship of vState, like that of church, elective ; indefinable but 
mighty ideal of imperial title as gift of people, reacting, as was 
natural, upon conception of kingship. 

" Even so the effort after union was precious. Over and over 
the German States combined. Commerce, defense, common 
interests of a thousand kinds, held them more or less closely to- 
gether. May there not also have been the broken utterance of 
political instinct in this? The Hanseatic League, the Confed- 
eration of the Rhine, the North German Union, were attempts 
at a common life, a getting ready for the modern empire. 

^ Italy was virtually lost to the empire when the Lombard 
League successfully resisted Frederick Barbarossa. Later em- 



t to THK FEUDAL SYSTEM AND 

perors went to Italy sotnetinies in peace, oftener for war, called 
in by some faction, but the connection of the peninsula with 
the empire was even less than nominal. The French monarchy, 
now grown strong, often interfered, as did also later the Spanish. 
Internalh' the country was torn by struggle incidental to estab- 
lishment of papal sovereignty in states of church, endless feuds 
of Guelph and Ghibelline, jealousies and conflicts of great fam- 
ilies and great cities. Italy, like Germany, must wait until the 
present century for strong central government. 



SEC. II. IN FRANCE: GENERAL. 

From uiiproinising' beginnings France rose steadily 
to unit}', power. Both were represented by the king. 
At first the ro3^al prerogative far exceeded the royal 
authority.'^ But the theory of royal authority was un- 
mistakably strong. Carolingian rights, memory of the 
empire, the possession of the crown, at least formal 
suzeraint3% all supported that theor3^ Something more 
than theory supported it when Capet put on the crown, 
987. He was duke of France, ready to serve himself as 
king by himself as duke. That happy accident of un- 
broken descent also had great result. Royalty was 
thereby enabled to follow the same policy generation 
after generation. This it did. It united France, sub- 
stituting the kingdom for the duch}^ It did a fair 
share of fighting outside. It stood by the church. It 
made a literature. This took time. Many men labored.'' 

^ Lavisse suggests that of three imperial regions recognized 
at Verdun, France promised least. "There was no unity in the 
country west of the Scheldt, the Meuse, and the Rhone. Vari- 
ous principalities, duchies, or counties were here formed, but 
each of them was divided into secular fiefs and ecclesiastical 
territories. Over these fiefs and territories the authority of the 
duke or the count, which was supposed to represent that of the 



CENTRALIZED GOVERNMENT. m 

king, was exercised only in case these seigneurs had sufficient 
power, derived from their own personal estates." 

- " Destitute of domains and almost starving, the king, in offi- 
cial documents, asked what means he might find on which to 
live with some degree of decency. From time to time, amid 
this chaos, he discussed the theory of his authority. He was a 
lean and solemn phantom, straying about among living men, 
who were very rude and energetic." 

^ One of the most remarkable things about the Capetian line 
was the alternation of strength and weakness. Beginning with 
Philip I, the list down to and including Philip the Fair shows 
every second man good or bad in order. 



SEC. 12. IN FRANCE: PARTICULAR. 

Of Special note were: i. Louis VI, the Fat, iro8- 
II 37. By hard work added to Nature' s title two others , 
"the wide-awake " and " the fighter." Task greatly 
needed, he reduced insubordination of feudal lords, giv- 
ing form and fact to theory that king is fountain both 
of justice and order. Aid in this was service of great 
minister, Suger. 2. Philip Augustus, 1 180-1223. 
Greatly enlarged and consolidated kingdom, especially 
by winning English possessions' in France. 3. Louis 
IX, St. Louis, 1 226-1 270. Thanks to gifted mother,' 
he withstood feudal reaction threatening throne. He 
developed a studious, strong, singularly pure, and saga- 
cious manhood. Sufficiently heroic to win the passion 
of warriors, sufficiently holy to command the worship 
of the church, sufficiently wise to make all circum- 
stances serve his plan, he exalted the royal office, abol- 
ished trial by combat, established right of appeal from 
feudal to royal court, and set limits to papal power in 
France.' 4. Philip the Fair,. 1283-1413. Unwarlike, 
cruel, rapacious,^ he wrought toward absolute mon- 
16 



112 THE FEUDAL vSYSTEM AND 

archy. To this end he (i) successfully resisted the 
Pope; (2) gave the communes place in the States Gen- 
eral;^ (3) legislated for entire kingdom; (4) insisted 
upon the making of money as a ro3'al prerogative; (5) 
when feudal forces were offered too tardily, engaged 
mercenaries, preparing way for standing army. 5. 
Louis XI, 1461-1483. Profited by destruction of aris- 
tocrac}^ in Hundred Years' War to gather up French 
dominions into something like old form, though now 
held together b}^ national spirit. 6. Charles VIII, 
1483-1498. Chiefly noted as last of Valois. Dreamed 
and vainly attempted restoration of Carolingian empire.'' 
He ruled 1 kingdom evolved out'of a feudal league. So 
far as France was concerned, feudalism was no more. 

^ Quarreled with John of England on account of murdered 
Arthur. Result was Normandy, Maine, and Anjou added at 
once to France and several other provinces set toward absorp- 
tion. 

^ Blanche of Castile, who was responsible for the two or three 
flashes of spirit in the Saint's father, lyouis VIII. Evidently 
the 3'oung king inherited from his mother rather than from 
father. Blanche helped him fight his battles, and was deservedl}' 
honored until her death. 

^ Probably without clearly intending it, St. Louis smote both 
feudalism and the papac3\ The former he did by his constant 
warfare against legal inequality and injustice in every form, the 
latter, preparatory to mighty struggle of Philip the Fair, by in- 
sistence that religion is a help toward salvation, not a political 
tool. 

* Cruelty and rapacity combined in overthrow of order of 
Templars. The struggle with the Pope grew out of question 
of taxing clergy. 

^St. Louis had given them place in his council. Most of his 
law work was done by men from the communes. Here is public 
representation. , 

^Developed an Italian polic}^ which, however, resulted ill for 
him and for France. 



CENTKAUZED GOVERNMENT. 113 



SEC. 13. IN SPAIN. 

The story of Spain up to second half of 15th cen- 
tury is a tedious recital of political and religious strife. 
Part of the battle-ground of Rome and Carthage, a 
Roman province, prey of Sueve, Vandal, and Visigoth, 
possession of Moslem, it had its full share of trouble. 
The little Christian kingdom of Asturia expanded into 
Leon. Besides, Barcelona, Aragon, Castile, and Na- 
varre rose to importance. Moslem, ^ given alternative 
he had so often offered Christians, had to choose between 
conversion and death. Long division followed among 
the Christian kingdoms. Then absorption began. Bar- 
celona, under name Catalonia, became part of Aragon, 
as did later by conquest Navarre. Leon fell to Castile. 
Ferdinand '^ of Aragon married Isabella of Castile, 1469, 
before either was on throne.' i\t first merel}^ a personal 
union, connection of Aragon and Castile was very close,* 
and became formal and permanent in 1516. The power 
of the nobles was broken. Constitutional restrictions 
on royalty were lessened.' After Ferdinand, Hapsburg 
rule followed for two centuries,'' during which the gov- 
ernment became an absolute monarchy.' 

^After the battle of Tours, 732, which stayed Moslem advance, 
Spain remained essentially a Moorish State for four centuries, 
by which time half the peninsula was Christian. Slowly but 
surely the Moor was pushed southward until 1492, when he lost 
his last possession, the little kingdom of Granada, and departed 
forever. 

^Apparently, while both were able, Isabella was much abler, 
and very much more attractive, than Ferdinand. Weber says 
of them that Isabella was a high-souled woman, open to all that 
is great and noble, withal warm-hearted and full of sympathy ; 



114 '^HE FEUDAL SYSTEM AND 

whereas Ferdinand was hard and narrow, self-seeking, sus- 
picious, and ungenerous. 

^Isabella became sovereign 1474, Ferdinand 1479- 

* Though each sovereign reigned independently, the political 
as well as the family interests of both were the same. The vital 
problem was the subordination of great nobles and feudal lords, 
and appropriation to crown of power thus won. 

^ These had been both numerous and stringent. In Aragon 
the Cortes, composed of nobles, clergy, and cities, made laws 
and levied taxes. In case of difference between king and Cortes 
the power of umpire was lodged with the Justiciar. For a 
time it seemed as if public order would be overthrown by selfish- 
ness of nobles. The General Privilege of Pedro III, 1283, Ara- 
gon's Magna Charta, wrought well for civil liberty. Scarcely 
realizing the wisdom of letting well enough alone, Alphonso 
III, 1287, agreed to Privilege of Union, a charter as infamous 
as the General Privilege was famous. By it the people were 
formally authorized to take up arms against their sovereign 
in case he attempted to infringe their liberties. This obnoxious 
and dangerous agreement was fought down by Pedro IV, 1336- 
1387, and something like self-respecting central power was es- 
tablished. In Castile the sovereign, by aid of people, curbed 
the nobility, then weakened the people, so far as government 
was concerned, so that when Ferdinand, outliving Isabella, 
came to administer both kingdoms, he found Castile as well 
prepared as Aragon for increase of power of crown. 

♦5 1 5 16- 1 700. During a portion of this time Spain was the fore- 
most nation in the world. Partl}^ marking, partly causing, de- 
cline were : I. Loss of territory. 2. Failui'e on sea — ^. ^..de- 
feat of Invincible Armada. 3. Wretched colonial administra- 
tion. 4. Dwindling of population. 5. Decay of agriculture. 
6. Contempt of industr}'. 7. Absenceof commercial enterprise. 
8. Criminal waste of treasure wrung from colonies. 9. Prodigal 
subsidies to extra-national enterprises. 10, An utterly ruinous 
S3'stem of taxation. 

^Particularly under Charles V and Philip II. 



CENTRAUZED GOVERNMENT. 115 



SEC. 13. IN ENGLAND. 

England furnished the one happy Middle Age illus- 
tration of me&n between political anarchy and political 
absolutism. Feudalism it had, but without the fatal 
feudal principle. The Conqueror made every land- 
•holder ' in the kingdom swear fealty to himself. Mon- 
archy it had, but never dissociated from the public in- 
terest.' Election to crown was practiced regularly 
until middle of 13th century, with fair regard for family 
ties. At that time hereditary succession was estab- 
lished. There was no privileged class in the conti- 
nental sense. Every man bore a share of the public 
burden. The government was feudal in form, but cen- 
tralized in fact. Contributing to order were following 
considerations: i. Feudal holdings, while numerous, 
were comparatively small. 2. All holdings were un- 
derstood to issue directly from the crown.' The feudal 
hierarchy here, therefore, was something more than a 
form. 3. The nobility was assimilated to royal mind 
by required attendance at great council. 4. There was 
an English spirit,' as distinct from the Norman, giving 
greatly prized support to crown. 5. The king legis- 
lated with advice of council. 

^ Many of these were, of course, Normans. Yet it must in 
fairness be remembered Ihat the Conqueror never treated Eng- 
land simply as conquered territory. Whether he believed it or 
not, he made other people believe that he regarded himself the 
lawful heir of the English crown after Edward the Confessor. 
On this ground he confiscated to himself and to Normans sev- 
eral classes of estates. Those of: i. King Harold/ 2. Recog- 
nized partisans of Harold, living and dead. 3. Laggards in 
supporting cause of invader, on ground that he was true king, 
and they therefore guilty of dislo>'^lty. Skillful application of 



Il6 THE FEUDAL SYSTEM AND 

the several principles involved gave him all the property he 
needed for his followers without the odium of out-and-out gen" 
eral confiscation. 

^It added much to royal pomp to have retinue of nobles. 
Fearing nothing from them, the Norman king kept about him 
large number, whom he consulted freely. Latftr events turned 
this habit into law. 

^In France the crown had to deal with feudal States, some of 
which were very old, larger even than the royal domain, and 
disposed to give onl}' titular precedence to king, and that 
grudgingly. 

* Happily in time exhibition of this became unnecessary, as 
the Norman strain blended with the Anglo-Saxon, producing 
the true English blood. 



SEC. 14. THE SAME. 

To the Normans sovereign was great feudal overlord. 
To the English he was from beginning veritable king. 
Administration at first and for long interpreted feudally, 
at last yielded to English view. Justice became a royal 
prerogative. Government was systematized. Touch 
with nation was never lost. Kings needed mone}^ so 
must meet people, hear their complaints, sometimes even 
heed them. Practice of summons confined king's coun- 
cil to great nobles. Occasions arose, however, when 
whole body of freemen must be consulted. The great 
crisis^ in John's reign was met by Magna Charta, 
wrung from reluctant king. National independence 
was thereby saved, ^ and a firm basis laid for civil lib- 
ert}'.'' The weakness of Henry III prevented ab.so- 
lutist reaction after concessions of John. Edward I, 
might}' warrior and mighty statesman, recognizing that 
strength of kingdom is in whole body of supporters, not 
in any class, gave settled form to legislation and au- 
thority by establishing them upon concurrent action of 



cp:ntraltzed government. 117 

king, nobles, and commons. vSo early, 1295,* was 
shaped the unique excellence of the English political 
system — order without absolutism, liberty without an- 
archy. The balance might incline to one. or another 
element, but has never been destroyed. 

^ John quarreled with Pope, who laid England under interdict. 
After six years Pope called upon French king to dethrone the 
impious Englishman. John yielded, becoming the Pope's man. 
Goaded by ro3-al exactions, by shame of royal weakness, and b}' 
tyrannous favor to foreigners, the barons swore to endure no 
longer. 

'^So great was hatred of John that mau}^ Englishmen wel- 
comed thought of French interference, even at cost of French 
dominion later. The barons' solution was better. 

^ The one priceless good in this great document was its pro- 
vision that no freeman should be arrested, imprisoned, outlawed, 
or dispossessed of land except by the lawful judgment of his 
peers and by the law of the land. What is gained by reconfir- 
mation is not wholly clear. Suggestive, however, of regard paid 
the charter is fact that it has been confirmed l)y act of Parlia- 
ment no less than thirty-two times. 

* This date marks practical completion of process which had 
been working itself clear during several decades. Utjder the 
Conqueror the royal council consisted of the greater barons ; 
under Henry II of whole body of tenants-in-chief; sometimes, 
even under Normans — e.g., 1086 and 11 16— of entire bod}^ of 
land-owners, whoever their feudal lords might be. The first was 
the ordinary form ; the second, the extraordinary ; the third, 
general assembly of the nation, though the nation was assumed 
to be represented even under forms one and two. In 1213a great 
step forward was taken. At St. Albans in that year the town- 
ships of ro3-al demesne were represented each by reeve and four 
men. At Oxford, same year, a council was held to which were 
summoned four discreet men from each county to talk with the 
king on the business of the kingdom. The name parliament 
was already, since 1175, in use. Representation of commons 
seems to have been henceforth a settled thing. When Simon 
de Montfort held his parliament in 1265 in effort toward straight- 



Il8 THE FKUDAL vSYvSTKM. 

ening tangled affairs of governmeut, counties or shires, cities 
and boroughs had place in it, each by two representatives. The 
earlier parliaments of Edward I had prelates and barons, with 
" the community of the land thereto summoned. ' ' All previous 
gain was gathered up in 1295, when ihe great principle of com- 
mon interest was recognized and invoked. "As the most right- 
eous law," so run the summons, quoting from Justinian. Code, 
title 56, law 5, " established by the provident circumspection of 
the sacred princes, exhorts and ordains that that which touches 
all shall be approved of by all, it is very evident that common 
dangers must be met by measures concerted in common." This 
principle, so self-evident to us, but so difficult to grasp by the 
men of old, has never since lapsed. 



CHAPTER VIL 



The Renaissance. 



SEC. I. THE NEW SPIRIT. 

It is suggestive that men speak of the opening of 
modern history as a new birth. In name and in fact 
the Renaissance was a rebirth.' Notwithstanding full 
recognition of all that showed life in the middle ages, 
that period persistently justifies the appellations dark, 
dead. The human spirit was dead, asleep, or, at best, 
was struggling in nightmare. A change came. The 
human spirit awoke. "^ Reason broke loose from scho- 
lastic, religion from ecclesiastical, bondage." The world 
was seen to be beautiful.'* Truth was discovered to be 
the legitimate quest of every man. Copernican sup- 
planted Ptolemaic system, making world in one sense 
smaller, in truer sense incomparabl}- larger. Most im- 
portant of all, it taught perspective of nature. Corre- 
sponding adjustment of intellectual and spiritual ideas 
followed. Herein lies significance of Michelet's dictum 
that the great achievements of the Renaissance were the 
discover}' of the world and the discover}' of man. The 
discovery of the world issued in two forms, one exten- 
sive, the other intensive. The first led to geographical 
exploration. The second gave science. The discovery 
of man also had twofold issue — one humanism, the other 

17 ("9) 



I20 THE RKNAISSANCK. 

moral revolt and moral reform. The first gave litera- 
ture, architecture, and art. The other gave the Refor- 
mation. 

^" The word Renaissance has of late years received a more 
extended significance than that which is implied in our EngHsh 
equivalent, the Revival of I/earning. We use it to denote the 
whole transition from the Middle Ages to the Modern World." 

' It is just because the Renaissance was a rebirth, an awaken- 
ing of conscious life, that we find it so hard to gather up its re- 
sults under few heads. Each will find among those results the 
elements which appeal to him. The jurist will see law ; the 
scholar will see humanism ; the artist, art ; the theologian, pa- 
ganism and the Reformation. In such varied activities did the 
awakened spirit occupy itself. 

^ "The mental condition of the Middle Ages was one of igno- 
rant prostration before the idols of the church — dogma and. 
authority and scholasticism." To be added to these elements of 
bondage is pressure of material need, which bore hard ever}-- 
wliere during that period. 

* A great surprise. The teaching of the age made " beaut}' a 
snare, pleasure a sin, the world a fleeting show, man fallen and 
lost, death the only certainty, judgment inevitable, hell ever- 
lasting, heaven hard to win, ignorance acceptable to God, ab- 
stinence and mortification the only safe rules of life." 



SEC. 2. OCCASIONS AND CAUSES. 

These cannot easily be separated. They were many. 
They were interwoven. Doubtless many had influence 
which never found record. Some we may confidently 
name: i. Memory, never wholly lost, of other and 
better days than had filled recent centuries. 2. Stirring 
of memory by fresh study of Roman law which, while 
not suflicient to restore the old order, yet made it a 
nearer and more living thing. 3. Traditions of the 
relatively good days of Charlemagne. 4. Arabian 



THE RENAISSANCK. 121 

culture' transplanted, enriched, and developed in Mos- 
lemized Spain. 5. The impulses generated in the great 
university centers.'^ 6. Scholasticism, which, though 
lacking originality, lacked neither assiduity nor com- 
prehensiveness. 7. Recov-ery, virtually for the modern 
world the discover}^ of free personality.^ 8. A many- 
sidedness in individual character.* 9. Renewed acquaint- 
ance between East and West, with resulting comparison 
of their two distinct types of culture.^ 11. Dawning 
conviction of history of world as, after all, one. 12. Im- 
pulse and direction given new spirit b}^ fall of Eastern 
Empire.^ 

^ No small thing. Moorish civilization in Spain was one of 
the glories of the mediaeval world. 

^ Numerous and important. Bologna, Padua, Naples, Rome ; 
Paris, Montpellier, Orleans ; Salamanca ; Oxford, Cambridge ; 
these all by 1300. Soon after arose many of the German galaxy — 
Prague, 1348; Heidelberg, 1386; Leipsic, 1409; Greifswald, 
1454; Freiburg in Breisgau, 1456; Tiibingen, 1477; Wittenberg, 
1502 ; Marburg, 1527 ; Strassburg, 1538, to name only the 1)etter 
known. 

^The Italian republics or city states contributed greatly to 
this. Even under the despots — perhaps one would better say 
particularly under the despots — individuality was emphasized. 
The strong arm, the facile speech, the ready wit, might make 
an 3^ one a great man in those days. 

* Noticeable in almost every great name of the period — e. g., 
Albertus Magnus, Bacon, Dante, Michael Angelo. 

^ Largely due to Crusades. Trade also aided much. 

6. Chiefly important as falling in with tendencies already 
strongly at work. Search for classical writings had already 
been prosecuted with intense zeal. Now treasure protected, 
though unused, at Constantinople were scattered through West. 
Fewer great scholars than was long believed appear to have gone 
westward with the manuscripts. 



122 THE RENAISSANCE. 



SEC. 3. VOICES FROM THE DARK. 

The Renaissance did not come all at once. It arriv^ed, 
so to speak, by degrees. Here and there, even during 
the Middle Ages, protest was made against bondage and 
darkness. Scholastic activity,^ woefully misdirected ^ as 
much of it might be, was better than stagnation. Even 
in the monasteries S3'mptoms of revolt against current 
metaphysics and theology were apparent. Gottschalk 
dared to open the question of predestination,^ thereby 
foreshadowing the struggle of reason against authorit}'. 
Abelard went farther, insisting that faith was nothing 
if not intelligent.* Worthy successors of Abelard were 
Albertus Magnus^ and Roger Bacon. ^ The former 
dared to differ from Aristotle, whose works he edited. 
The latter went so far as to prove by the philosophers 
themselves that Aristotle was not infallible,' and to 
substitute for the study of Aristotle in defective trans- 
lations'" the wisdom of Scripture, the study of mathe- 
matics, and the use of experiment. This was the 
utterance of one born out of due time." 

^ The first business of the Schoohiien was to reduce to order 
the great body of legend and dogma which had, or was supposed 
to have, the sanction of church authority. Starting with the 
assumption that everything sanctioned by the church was true, 
they proceeded to harmonize and justif3\ " With no instru- 
ment save the logic of Aristotle, with no knowledge of the laws, 
forces, or agencies of the universe, physical or spiritual, they 
fell to work upon the stupendous pile of dogmas and legends of 
the church, with the purpose of reducing all to rational order 
and system." 

^Among the edifying subjects of discourse were many like 
these : " How many angels could dance at once on the point of 
a needle?" "Do angels have stomachs?" "Do angels in 
moving from place to place pass through intervening space? '* 



THE RENAISSANCE. I 23 

" If an ass were placed exactly midway between two stacks of 
hay, would he ever move ? " 

^ Gottschalk made the mistake of venturing to be more or- 
thodox than Augustine himself. Augustine taught predestina- 
tion to eternal life. Gottschalk went beyond him by teaching 
predestination to eternal death as well. His real fault was that 
he dared think with his own brains instead of with his teacher's 
*He was in the habit of saying to his pupils : "We should not 
believe unless we first understand." This was the exact oppo- 
site of the scholastic temper, whose maxim was: ''I believe 
in order that I ma}- understand." 

^Was close student of plant life and a chemist of note. Be- 
cause there were some things which he knezv, his contemporaries, 
after the fashion of the time, insisted that be must be in league 
with the devil. So little could the age distinguish between 
knowledge and magic. 

^ Enumerates as causes of human ignorance the following four: 
I. The force of unworthy authority. 2. Traditionary habit. 3. 
The imperfection of the undisciplined senses. 4. The disposi- 
tion to conceal our ignorance and to make an ostentatious show 
of our knowledge. 

' While worthy of all praise, Aristotle is yet subject to cor- 
rection and enlargement. "Tho.se who came after him cor- 
rected him in some things and added many things to his works, 
and shall go on adding to the end of the world." 

**"If I had power over the works of Aristotle, I would have 
them all burnt, for it is only a loss of time to study in them, 
and a course of error and a multiplication of ignorance beyond 
expression. " " The common herd of students, with their heads, 
have no principle by which they can be excited to any worth}^ 
employment, and hence they mope and make asses of them- 
selves over their bad translations and lose their time and trouble 
and money." 

''Roger had a hard time of it. Things clear to him were not 
understood at all by his generation, or at most by only one or 
two. " Because these things are beyond your coniprehension," 
he wrote in self-defense to Pope Nicholas III, "you call them 
the works of the devil." To Pope Clement he had written, 
" It is on account of the ignorance of those with whom I have 
had to deal that I have not been able to accomplish more." 



124 'THE RENAISSANCE. 

Roger was condemned for suspected heresy and for magic, and 
suffered ten years in prison. To us it is a terrible indictment of 
the age that on his deathbed he declared, " I repent now that 
I have given myself so much trouble for the love of science." 
The dates of these men were : Gottschalk, d. 868 ; Abelard, 
1097-1142; Albertus Magnus, 1193-1280; Roger Bacon, 1214- 
1294. 



SEC. 4. PROPHETS OF THE NEW DAY. 

These were notably three: i. Dante, 1 265-1 321. A 
strong defender of the empire as against the papacy. 
Himself a victim of party strife, an exile, poor, home- 
sick, heart-weary of the intrigues and jealousies and 
strifes of a divided Italy, ^ Dante calls back his country- 
men to the ideal of a true imperium, distinct from the 
church, independent of the church, yet not hostile to 
it. Such an imperium is that of the State-Church the- 
ory, the empire a divine institution, the work of the 
Holy Ghost, using the church for accomplishment of the 
ends divinely appointed to it as empire. De Monarchia 
propounds three questions: ( i ) Whether monarchy was 
necessary for the welfare of the world. (2) Whether 
the Roman people took to itself by right the office of 
monarchy or empire. (3) Whether the authority of 
monarchy comes from God directl}^ or only from some 
other minister or vicar of God. To these questions 
Dante makes answer for monarchy, as necessary, divine, 
md therefore independent. So much for the spirit that 
dared speak its mind'^ in Italy, foretokening free dis- 
cussion. On the literary side the Divine Comedy was 
his great contribution. By it he: (i) Fixed, if he did 
not create, the Italian language. (2) Gave body to en- 
tire round of "mediaeval theology, philosophy, science, 
in this epic of the soul. (3) Gave inspiration of really 



THE RENAISSANCE. 1 25 

great poem, invaluable service to Italy and to world. 

2. Petrarch, 1 304-1 374. Something more than ex- 
ponent of mediaevalism, beyond which even Dante's 
mighty genius had scarcely carried him. Petrarch 
went far back for material, far forward for method.^ 
In him the light broke, because the mind had discov- 
ered its power and its right to deal in its own way, if 
not with questions of faith, yet with all other questions.* 

3. Boccaccio, 13 13-1375. Born intellectually at tomb of 
Virgil,^ he equaled Petrarch in passion for classical an- 
tiquit}^ Though but~an indifferent Greek scholar, '^ he 
greatly furthered the study of Greek. His great serv- 
ice was threefold : (i) He shaped Italian prose. (2) 
He insisted that life should be looked at as it is." (3) 
He seconded Petrarch's humanistic impulse. 

^ Yet to this very disorder we owe much of the individuality 
that made the Italian Renaissance possible. The free republics, 
the oligarchies, and the despots all had their work to do. 

^ Here is daring political speculation. Dante's letters to princes 
of Italy, cardinals, republics, emperor were fine specimens of 
the political pamphlet, expounding the principles of government 
in discussion of current issues. 

^ The first of the humanists. "The essence of humanism," 
says Symonds, "consisted in a new and vital perception of the 
dignity of man as a rational being apart from theological de- 
terminations, and in the further perception that classic literature 
alone displayed human nature in the plenitude of intellectual 
and moral freedom." 

■* Petrarch's insight meant vastly more for the world than all 
his poetry. A new spirit was working in the world. To this 
man was given the power to foresee the development of that 
spirit, and to teach men what was taking place within them. In 
true sense he was prophet as interpreter. 

^Boccaccio's father made him study law and commerce. When 
twenty-seven years old he settled at Naples at his father's bid- 
ding. Passing the tomb of Virgil in the course of a walk one 
day, his literary impulse was so stirred that he renounced his 
law and commerce and at once began to study poetry. 



126 THK RKNAISSANCE. 

^ He tried hard enough to learn Greek well. Pilato, a Byzan- 
tine pedant, lived in his house for years, trying to teach both 
him and Petrarch. Pilato seems to have had but scant furnish- 
ing of intellect. " Petrarch and Boccaccio both described him 
as a sordid cynic, with a filthy beard and tangled hair, morose 
in his temper and disgusting in his personal habits, who con- 
cealed a bovine ignorance beneath a lion's hide of ostentation." 
Petrarch never learned to read Greek. Boccaccio did as well as 
was possible without a teacher, and made a Latin translation of 
both Iliad and Odyssey. 

^ So far, good. It does not follow, however, that it should be 
written out. Boccaccio was the Walt Whitman of his day. He 
took off the covering, and ugly things were revealed. It is a 
question whether this is wholly wise. ' ' We are all naked under 
our clothes," says the cynic. True, and there is always merit 
in frankness, but it may be doubted whether societ}' is better on 
the whole for laj'ing bare what nature evidently intended to 
keep secret. 

SEC. 5. THE CENTER OF THE NEW ORDER. 

The Florentine was fond of comparing his city with 
Athens. In freedom,in variety of institutions, in culture, 
the comparison does not discredit Florence. She had, 
as Athens had, an intelligent citizenship, keenly alive 
to public as well as to private interest, and broad enough 
to be concerned about life outside their own borders. 
She had, what Athens had not, respect for industry and 
important commercial relations.^ She had, in this again 
like Athens, literary and artistic gifts. Athens had 
been the capital of Greek culture. Florence was the 
capital of the Renaissance. Boccacio's experiment 
with ox- brained Pilato was repeated by others with 
happier result. Teachers of Greek found their way to 
Florence."'' Florentine students went to the Grecian East. 
Manuscripts were sought out.^ Criticism, collation, 
reproduction went on apace.* Noble art flourished. 



THE RENAISSANCE. 1 27 

If Lord Beaconsfield spoke truth when he said that a 
great nation is a nation that produces great men, the 
fame of Florence is secure. She could, after Athens, 
say of more illustrious names than any other one city 
in the world, these are mine. Birth or fame or both 
she gave Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Macchiavelli, 
Michael Angelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Americus 
Vespucius, Savonarola, and the Medici. 

^ Men of high birth counted it no shame to be traders. At 
close of 15th century the city had 83 rich and splendid ware- 
houses of the silk merchants' guild, 33 great banks, 44 gold- 
smiths' and jewelers' shops. Florentine woolen and silk pro- 
ducts were famous the world over. 

2 At the other pole from Pilato stood Manuel Chr3'soloras. 
Dispatched by Emperor Palseologus upon a political mission to 
western Europe, he was attracted to Florence. " This engage- 
ment secured the future of Gi'eek erudition in Europe." The 
reputationof being the most accomplished and eloquent Hellenist 
of his age w^as justified b}'- Chrysoloras. Through him Florence 
met Homer and Plato and Demosthenes, and thereby received 
vital impulse. 

^ To the humanist and to us it seems an infinite pity that many 
a manuscript counted priceless afterward had been mutilated 
by monks who nefther knew nor cared what was passing through 
their hands. Others lay rotting as too worthless to throw away. 
Diligent search now rescued the bulk of what had been preserved. 

*Note the progress of the movement : i. The stage of desire, 
exemplified in Petrarch jjassionatel}- kissing the Homer he could 
not read. 2. The stage of imperfect acquaintance seen in Boc- 
caccio and brainless, pedantic Pilato. 3. The stage of gathered 
material. Monasteries, cathedral stores, libraries, collections 
everywhere were ransacked for ever}^ precious scrap of parch- 
ment. 4. The stage of criticism. Ficino, Poliziano, Erasnms 
belong here, wdiatever their actual dates. 5. The stage of diffu- 
sion. Copyists had worked diligently, but at best with scant 
result. Two new agencies were now called into use : [a) Poet 
and poetaster reproducing each in his own way, giving the sense 
of the old author with or without the original form, (d) The 
printing press. 
18 



128 THE RENAISSANCE. 



SEC. 6. THE RENAISSANCE ITAI^IAN. 

Florence was only the capital, not the whole, of the 
new kingdom. Spreading from Florence, the flame 
everywhere kindled both light and heat. Soon all 
Italy was ablaze.^ In all cities schools and libraries 
were established. Everywhere study was in fashion. 
Pisa gave honorable asylum to scholars. Naples made 
peace with the Medici in return for a book of Titus 
Livius. Padua built a university. Venice did the 
same. Milan protected artists and learned men^ Rome 
saw the Roman university reestablished by the popes, 
who also organized a new crusade for the discovery of 
manuscripts. Mantua, Urbino, Ferrara — a score of 
the smaller centers competed with powerful States for 
the crown of letters and art. Far-reaching, as time 
went on, was the attitude of successive popes. Julius II 
and Leo X claim special mention. Julius was a poli- 
tician, an ecclesiastic, and a warrior. Notwithstand- 
ing this, he added to his court a goodly company of 
men filled with the new spirit.'' Leo X carried temper 
of Medici from Florence to Rome.'^ He insisted that 
part of pope's duty was to favor progress of letters. 
Both Michael Angelo and Raphael worked for him. 

^"The descendants of the turbulent barons were changing 
their fortresses into cabinets of study and forgetting their arms 
for their books." 

^ The day the Laocoon was found in the baths of Titus he had 
the bells rung in all the churches of Rome. Symonds says 
that his name rather than that of Leo X should be given to 
golden age of Rome's letters and art. His figure is one of the 
strongest and most attractive in the whole line of popes. liotli 
Michael Angelo and Raphael owed much to him. He began 
St. Peter's. The importance of culture, especially to the higher 
classes, he emphasized in the words, " Belles-lettres are silver 



THK RENAISSANCE. I29 

to plebiaiis, gold to nobles, and .diamonds to princes." ^he 
controversies between strong-willed Julius and strong-willed 
Angelo make interesting reading. 

^ Cultured, liberal, without abiding moral impulse, good style 
counted more with him than good doctrine. When made pope 
he remarked to a friend, " Let us enjoy the papacy, since God 
has given it to us. " His fame is more artistic and literary than 
pontifical, but this is precisely what the Renaissance sets down 
as most to his renown. • 



SEC. 7. THE RENAISSANCE EUROPEAN. 

The Renaissance was larger even than Italy. French 
and Spanish ambitions in the peninstila made larger 
acquaintance with the North inevitable to the Italian. 
Besides, scholars had themselves carried on missionary 
work unceasingly. Beyond the Alps, as in Italy, the 
products of the new spirit were varied,^ taking all the 
typical forms — literature, painting, sculpture, archi- 
tecture, invention. The result was good art in France, 
better in Holland, hard thinking and moral reform in 
Germany and England. Happily for the world, the 
Northern Renaissance, though later than the Italian, and 
in art always inferior to it, was on the humanistic and 
moral side more practical, more thorough, and more en- 
during.'^ In important sense we are still in full tide of it. 

^ We shall miss the real secret of the Renaissance unless we 
bear in mind that it meant quickening. The result would de- 
pend upon the direction given by circumstance to the activities 
of the quickened spirit. In Italy classical manuscripts and 
Greek statues led to literature and art. In the North, Hebrew 
and moral need led to the Reformation. 

^ The Italian Renaissance lacked moral support. " It loved 
the beautiful and that alone. That is by no means enough. 
Native country, liberty, sentiments, and ideas which lift the 
head and the heart high" must be cared for, and this Italy 
ceased to do. The Northern movement had this — and lived. 



130 THE RENAISSANCE. 



SEC. 8. WTERATURE. 



Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio constituted a literary 
triumvirate. A second was composed of Boiardo, 
Ariosto, and Tasso.* Boiardo wrote the Orlando In- 
amorato, recalling the Carolingian da3^s in the person 
of Roland. Ariosto continued the theme in Orlando 
Furioso. Tasso wrote Jerusalem Delivered, recalling 
the days of the Crusades. So far the Italian literary 
output after Dante is distinctly disappointing. Neither 
in bulk nor in strength does it justify the expectation 
awakened at the beginning. Machiavelli, in giving 
form to theories of political ethics deservedly execrated 
by all later ages, recreated Italian prose. Busied with 
the fact rather than with the form, he wrote straight 
on, surprising himself and the world by the discovery 
that so working the author may make language a simple 
but perfect vehicle of thought. Beyond the x\lps litera- 
ture found voice. France had, besides Dolet, Bude, 
and the Estiennes,' Rabelais, Regnier, Ronsard, Mon- 
taigne, Malherbe, Calvin, and d' Aubigne. The Nether- 
lands had Erasmus"* and, later, Grotius. Germany had 
von Hutten, Hans Sachs, Reuchlin, to say nothing of 
Melancthon and Luther/ England had Chaucer at the 
beginning, Wycliffe, Malory,^ Colet, More, on the rise 
of the tide, Spenser, Sidney, Hooker, Shakespeare, in- 
deed the whole Elizabethan group, to mark the flood. 

^Boiardo, 1434-1494 ; Ariosto, 1474-1533 ; Tasso, 1544-1595. 

^ Henri, his sons Robert and Charles, and especially Charles' 
son Henri, known also as Henri II. Good taste, mechanical 
skill, scholarship, and unfailing industry combined to make the 
service of these men of untold value to letters. Together they 
just span the i6th century. 

3 1467-1536. 77^^ humanist of the North. Forced against his 
will into monastic life by dishonest guardians, he found himself 



THE RENAISSANCE. I3I 

impelled beyond resistauce toward letters. He secured papal 
dispensation exempting him from monastic dress and presently 
from monastic vow. The best scholar and greatest wit of the 
age, Erasmus was a sort of scholastic cosmopolite, spending time 
in England, Austria, Switzerland, France, and Italy, as well as 
in Germany and the Netherlands. His learning, great for any 
time, for his own time enormous, justified the story told of a 
table companion whom the chances of travel had thrown with 
him, finding himself amazed at the thought and speech of his 
unknown friend, and freeing his mind by the pith}^ words, " Aut 
Erasmus, aut Diabolus.'' 

* Both overshadowing work as authors b}^ work hs reformers. 
None the less their literary' rights are by no means unimportant. 

^Note significance of Arthurian cycle. 

SEC. 9. ART. 

The fuller — mati}^ wise also for Ital}-, at least' — the 
truer expression of the Renaissance was not literature, 
but art. The Renaissance period was as completely dom- 
inated by the esthetic, as the present is by the scientific, 
principle. At the beginning of the period what little 
art existed was in bondage to mediaeval tradition.'^ 
Breaking away from this, art returned to classic models 
and to nature. But Renaissance art was something more, 
something other, than the art of Greece and Rome. A 
new mode of life, a new cycle of thought, a new phase 
of feeling sought expression. Herein lies the secret of 
the fact that while the glor}^ of classical art was sculp- 
ture, the glory of Renaissance art was painting.^ The 
later worker was prophet as well as artist. His task 
united Hellenism and Christianity. 

^ " It has been granted only to two nations, the Greeks and 
the Italians, and to the latter only at the time of the Renais- 
sance, to invest every phase and variety of intellectual energy 
with the form of art. " Even the literary products of the Renais- 
sance were artistic in form, and must be judged from the point 
of view of art if one would not miss their chief meaning. 



132 THK RENAISSANCE. 

^Gathered up in so-called Romanesque and Byzantine styles. 
Symonds calls them the dotage of second childhood, fimibling 
with the methods and materials of an irrecoverable past. 

^The Greek's life and religion were finite and tangible. His 
god was just a man, mightier and uglier or more beautiful as 
the case might be. Character had its physical counterpart. 
Thersites could not be good because he was ugly. Phryne 
could not be a sinner because she was beautiful. Such concep- 
tion of personality can be shown in marble. Renaissance art 
had a harder task. The graces of spiritual life may be devel- 
oped within unbeautiful bodies. Faith and hope and love ; self- 
denials, crucifixions, resurrections ; judgment, eternity : marble 
cannot tell what must needs be told concerning these. So it 
came that Italy used the brush where Greece used the chisel. 



SEC. 10. ARCHITECTURE. 

As usual, architecture first made advance.^ Related 
much to Renaissauce art as Dante was to Renaissance 
letters, stood Arnolfo.' The architectural Petrarch was 
Brunelleschi. Seeking the restoration of Rome in build- 
ing as well as in letters, Brunelleschi visited the old 
city, eagerly studying its ruins for guidance in the task 
of beautifying Florence.^ Nearly' contemporaneous 
was Alberti.* Greater than either was Bramante.^ The 
fame of Raphael the architect is passed by that of Ra- 
phael the painter, but that is due to the superlative 
excellence of the painting, not to inferiority in the ar- 
chitecture. Michael Angelo, just stopping short of 
divinity in the extent and variety of his genius, built 
St. Peters on Bramante's foundation and the sacristy of 
San Lorenzo on his own. Here the architect and the 
sculptor wrought together. The result was a triumph 
under the hand of Michael Angelo which less gifted 
men sought to repeat, only to find that the touch of 
the master alone could save the effect from being either 



THE RENAISSANCE. 1 33 

fantastic or crude. The Italian list closed with Pal- 
ladio. With decadence in Italy came vigor in France 
and dawn in Germany and England. In two senses 
the Renaissance architecture spread. i. The style 
known as Renaissance " found favor. 2. The spirit of 
the nations quickened from Italy wrought out with 
greater or less success the problem each nation had to 
face for itself.' 

^ "Architecture is always the first of the fine arts to emerge 
from barbarism in the service of rehgion and of civic Hfe." 
Several reasons appear for this, so far as Italy was concerned. 
I. There was no established architectural type. lyombard, 
Gothic, Byzantine, Saracenic, Etruscan traditions were followed 
in different parts of the peninsula. 2. Building materials dif- 
fered. Cremona and Pavia had store of brick in their clay 
fields of the Po. Verona had its quarries of mandorlato. Pisa 
had Carrara marble. Prato had green serpentine from Monte 
Ferrato. Florence had the pietra serena from the Apennines. 
3. There appears to have been no such fixed rules here as in 
other departments made innovation dangerous. 4. There is 
a larger element of the practical, the useful in architecture than 
in sculpture and painting. Temple and palace meet immediate 
need of community. Besides, only after Wall and dome are in 
place can they be adorned with statue and fresco. 

2 1232-13 10. Especially remembered in connection with his 
Palace of the Signiory in Florence. Gave rough outline to 
chief architectural beauties of Florence. Giotto's campanile, 
Brunelleschi's cupola, Orcagna's church of Orsammichele, each 
worked out with consummate genius by their respective creators, 
are yet all where Arnolfo planned the}^ should be whenever they 
were built. 

^ The finest products of Brunelleschi were basilica San Lo- 
renzo, Pitti Palace, and dome of cathedral, all in Florence. 

* Greatly important for inspiration to later workers, who mul- 
tiplied buildings upon model of his Palazzo Rucellai. 

* " Though little of his work survives entire and unspoiled, it 
is clear that he exercised the profoundest influence over both 
successors and contemporaries. What they chiefly owed to him 



134 '^H^ RENAISSANCE. 

was the proper subordination of beauty in details to the gran- 
deur of simplicity and to unity of effect." 

^ A combination of classical design modified by mediaeval 
needs. Later conscious effort was made to return to out-and- 
out Roman models. Vitrnvius, a military engineer of the Au- 
gustan age, had written a work on architecture chiefly from 
Greek inspiration. Unfortunately, this was discovered and 
became normative. With this so-called classical revival the 
possil)ility of a real Italian architecture faded. 

^ This the really important consideration. The inspiration of 
Inigo Jones and Sir Christopher Wren, whether it come directly 
or after several centuries, is worth incomparably more than the 
transference of a completed theory of building. 



SEC. II. SCULPTURE. 

In the natural order sculpture follows architecture. 
Emancipation from tradition came in 13th century with 
Nicolas and Andrea of Pisa. The great service of 
Nicolas, who stands first in both chronology and im- 
portance, was to point the way to the true sources of 
sculpture — antiquity and nature. Florence yielding 
priority to Pisa in this soon outdid her neighbor. 
Ghiberti ' by his bronze doors made himself and the 
Baptistery of Florence immortal. Donatello^ urged 
faithful study of model. The great Michael Angelo"' 
surpas.sed all these, winning right to stand with mightiest 
of Greeks. 

^ 1 378- 145 5. Chief competitors for doors were Querela and 
Brunelleschi. The subject was Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac. 
By common consent Ghiberti won prize. When later a second 
set of doors was to be cast Ghiberti received the commission 
with injunction this time to surpass himself as before he had 
surpassed all competitors. These gates Michael Angelo declared 
worthy of Paradise. In architecture, to which Ghiberti made 
some pretension, he was distinctly inferior to the Brunelleschi 
whom in this competition he had beaten. 



THE RENAISSANCE. 



35 



" 1383-H66. Stillman says, " He carried the true principles 
of Greek art to the highest perfection that Italian art has ever 
seen, in some of its finest qualities even beyond Michael Angelo, 
though with less imagination and less technical power. His 
ideal of character in the statues of historical, as well as of 
mythical, personages unknown to art, stands unequalled in art 
history ; and although he is influenced by the life around him, 
in the types and forms of his ideal portraiture, in the spirit of 
the work and the complete ideality of its development, he is 
entitled to rank amongst the first sculptors of all time." 

3 1475-1564. Most notable are his Moses and Slaves from the 
proposed mausoleum of Pope Julius II, the colossal David, at 
Florence, and the statues of the Medicean tomb, also at Florence, 
especially Night. In these last it is more than probable that 
the fate of Florence was sculptured. For this we have Angelo's 
own words. Some one wrote an inscription for the Night, 
bidding wake the .sleeper if her real exi.stence was doubted. 
In answer Angelo wrote the exquisite but sorrow-laden lines : 
" Grateful is sleep, and still more sweet, while woe 

And shame endure, 'tis to be stone like me ; 

And highest fortune nor to feel nor see ; 

Therefore awake me not ; speak low, speak low." 



SEC. 12. PAINTING. 

Renaissance painting stands by itself in the history of 
the world's art. Tuscany, Umbria, and Venice were 
the creative centers. Cimabne ^ led the new order in 
an attempt to substitute naturalness for conventionality. 
Giotto, his pupil, writing the story of the Middle Ages 
with the brush, united truth, exactness, and grace in 
measure before him unattained. Masaccio surpassed 
both. Fra Lippo lyippi shows that art had found its 
way even into the cloister. The last quarter of the 15th 
and the first half of the i6th century saw the Renais- 
sance painting at its best. To the first part of this 
period belong Mantegna, Perugino, the Bellini, and 
19 



136 THK RENAISSANCE. 

Fra Bartolommeo. Within the second fall Leonardo 
da Vinci, Michael Angelo, Raphael, Correggio, Titian, 
Andrea del Sarto, Tintoretto, and Veronese. Standing 
apart, later in the i6th century, are Guido Reni and 
Carlo Dolchi. Of all these, themselves onl}- the greatest 
of their age, several are recognized as specially excell- 
ing: " Leonardo" by execution and character, Michael 
Angelo^ by originality and knowledge of form, Cor- 
reggio* by magic of effect, Titian^ by power of color. 
Raphael ^ combined all these qualities to a degree which 
has made of him the first of artists, the unique painter. ' ' 
Beyond the Alps worthy painters were born. France 
had several of note, like Claude Lorraine, but not 
worthy to stand with Italy's greatest, or with the greatest 
elsewhere. The Netherlands had the brothers van Eyck , 
Rubens, Rembrandt, and van Dyck. Germany had 
Hans Holbein the Younger and Diirer. Spain had 
Murillo. 

^ A paragraph of dates may serve a good purpose. Cimabue, 
1 240-1302 ; Giotto, 1 276-1 336 ; Masaccio, 1402-1428 ; Lippi, 1400- 
1469; Mautegiia, 1431^1517; Perugino, 1 446-1 5 23 ; the BelHni, 
1421-1516 ; Bartolommeo, 1475-1517 ; da Vinci, 1452-1519 ; 
Michael Angelo, 1475-1564; Raphael, 1483-1520 ; Correggio, 
1494-1534; Titian, 1477-1576; del Sarto, 1487-1531 ; Tintoretto, 
1519-1594; Veronese, 1530-1588 ; Reni, 1575-1642; Dolchi, 1616- 
1686; Lorraine, 1 600-1 682 ; van Eycks, 1 366-1 440 ; Rubens, 
1577-1640 ; Rembrandt, 1 607-1 669 ; van Dyck, 1680-1752; Hol- 
bein, 1497-1543; Diirer, 1471--1578 ; Murillo, 1617-1682. 

^ Great work, the Last Supper. 

•'The Holy Family, the frescoes of the Pauline cha])el, and, 
most of all, the Last Judgment. This colossal and multitudin- 
ous picture, men say, is terrible rather than beautiful. In special 
sense the artist seems to have put his own rugged self into his 
work. Not the consolations, but the terrors, of faith are em- 
phasized. The spirit of the old artist found expression now and 
again in savage humor. The Pope's intrusion he had to endure. 



THE RENAISSANCE. 1 37 

That of lesser men he would not. Revenge for such intrusion 
he took on one Biagio, who impertinently and incompetently 
criticised the Last Judgment. Angelo gave Minos in the fresco 
the face of Biagio, and so fixed his place in hell. Biagio posted 
away in hot haste to his master, Pope Paul III, to complain. 
"Where has he placed you?" asked the Pope. **In hell," 
answered the aggrieved Biagio. "Too bad," said the Pope; 
" if it were only in purgatory, I could help you, but in hell I have 
no jurisdiction." So in hell Biagio had to stay. 

* Most important works in Parma, the Ascension of the Ma- 
donna, in the dome of the Cathedral, and the Vision of St. John, 
in Church of St. John the Evangelist. 

^St. Christopher Carrying the Christ Child, Tribute Money, 
the Entombment. 

^School of Athens, Transfiguration, marvelous Madonnas, 
especially the Sistine. 



vSEC. 13. SCIENCE AND DISCOVERY. 

Much that passed for science was unworthy. As- 
trology, alchemy, thauniaturgy, the black art, demon- 
olog3% witchcraft, all had place. But this was only 
the Middle Ages carried over. Tartaglia and Ferrari 
in Itah^ successfully pursued mathematical studies. 
Vesalius of Brussels founded anatomy. The French- 
man Yiete applied algebra to geometry and prepared 
the way for the mathematical analysis of Newton. 
Other Frenchmen wrought other worthy work. Co- 
pernicus perfected his solar system. Boehme, Bacon, 
Grotius, Hobbes, and Descartes thought and wrote. 
Tributary to much of this w^ere the use of the telescope, 
the compass, linen paper, and gunpowder, all brought 
from the East. More important aid still was printing. 

While thought w^as thus winning its kingdom the 
boundaries of the world were enlarging. The half 
fearful attempts to see wdiat lay beyond the horizon 
which had marked earlier maritime exploration now 



138 THE RENAISSANCE. 

gave way to bold voyages in quest of the limits of the 
sea/ Portugal,'' Spain, ^ France, and England were 
foremost in endeavor. Vasco di Gama opened the 
way to the East around Africa. Columbus, also seek- 
ing the East, found America. The Cabots and Cartier 
were forerunners of the English and French colonists 
who were to determine the destiny of the continent. 

^ It must, however, be confessed that there was large commer- 
cial reckoning at bottom of most of this. The coast of Africa 
was outlined in eifort to reach India for purposes of trade. Co- 
lumbus died in belief that he was on the way to India, The 
quest of the northwest passage was not entirely inspired by 
scientific interest. The early voyagers were themselves disap- 
pointed, and on their return home were met with but scant 
enthusiasm, in absence of expected cargoes of gold and gems. 

2 Hemmed in on the three land sides, Portugal must find out- 
let, if at all, seaward. 

* The colonial dominion of Spain was prodigiously great. The 
pope parceled out the undiscovered balance of the world h>e- 
tween Spain and Portugal, giving Spain everything beyond a 
line drawn one hundred leagues west of the Azores. With in- 
explicable generosit}'^ Spain allowed ihe line to be re-run two 
hundred and seventy leagues farther west still. Special con- 
cessions also were made in South American territory. With all 
this, however, Spain got the lion's share of the New World. 



SEC. 14. POLITICS. 

The Renaissance spirit could not remain without po- 
litical significance. The giving way of feudalism to 
centralized government has already been traced.^ One 
cause lay in memory of days when strong hand of em- 
peror kept order of world. ^ Renewed touch with an- 
tiquity could not fail mightily to further sovereignty 
as against mere feudal headship; more yet, as against 
such chaos as that out of which feudalism grew. Other 



THE RENAISSANCE. I-,q 

political consequences also came from Renaissance 

m Italy. Diffusion of Italian ideas through humanistic 
and artistic migration and through war broadened that 
conception to fit conditions of European States. Mach- 
lavelli s Prince.crystallizing the political theory of Italy 
became an European classic. The ambassador, devel- 
oped in Italy, became a functionary of every conrt.^ 
' See chapter VI. 

"otten' The':^,!"'* T"' "^^ '"^^'' '-'^ "— '"'e been for- 
gotten The old days always seen, good to one who is farenou<,h 
away rem then.. Besides, to the awakened spirit anThi^e 

Ilkd the", "r '^"""'"^ "'^ "'J-«- and'anarZu ! 

hlled the closing days of the Middle Ages 

The Italians were very forw-ard in matters of political science 

such":t7„T- '■'' ""r"'""^^ ^^'^ particulrfylnil T„ 
he uH f n"'v '"'P'°^"'' '^°"' «' '■°"«' «»<! abroad At 

the jubilee of Boniface VIII, in .300, it was noted that twelve of 

the Ambassadors representing foreign powers were Florrntines 
SKC. 15. PROFIT AND I,o,S.S. • 

The new spirit was not clear again, i It threat 
ened real political liberty by laudation of order forever 
vanished. 2. It recalled the weakness rather than the 
strength of the past." 3. It found its ideal in a kind 
of Neo-Paganism.' 4. It established a false literary 
standard,' making authorship imitative rather than 
creative. 5. It gave currency to vicious political theory ' 
6. It encouraged undue defiance of authority 7 It 
awakened enthusiasms unwarranted in fact, and so 
doomed to disappointment with dangerous reactions. 
Still It brought immeasurable good. i. Spirit was dis- 
covered to be more than matter.' 2. Religion became 
less ecclesiastical, more practical. 3. The j-oke of 



140 THE RENAISSANCE. 

scholasticism was broken. 4. The good doubt was 
given place as legitimate. 5. Laiav replaced arbitrari- 
ness in sj^stems of thought. 6. Worthier than Middle 
Age models of truth and beaut}^ were sought. 7. The 
rights of personality were recognized as never before. 

8. Intellectual and moral perspective was corrected. 

9. lyife became joyous in its own right. 10. Needed 
impulse was given, though nearly always indirectly, to 
development of national feeling in art, learning, and 
politics. 

^ ' ' They ceased to fear God ; but they (the humanists) did not 
acquire either the self-restraint of the Greek or the patriotic 
virtues of the Roman." 

^ It was a churchman and cardinal, Bessarion, who sought to 
dry the tears of weeping orphans by assuring them that their 
father " had gone to the place of the pure to dance the mystic 
lacchos with the gods of Olympus." It was a papal secretary, 
Carraro, who adapted Horace to Christian worship. It was a 
Christian prince, Cosmo di Medici, who turned for guidance 
in death to the words of Athenian sages. Cardinal Bembo wrote 
to Sadoleto, " Do not read the epistles of Stl Paul, for fear that 
such a barbarous style will corrupt your tastes." Burckhardt 
tells how once the altar lights were taken from before the cruci- 
fix and set by the grave of Dante, with the words, " Take them ; 
thou art more worthy of them than he, the Crucified One." 

^ Dante began his immortal work in Latin. Ariosto was urged 
to write in Latin, but wisely decided to use his own tongue. " I 
prefer," he said, " to be the first among the Tuscan poets rather 
than hardly the second among the Latins." 

*Machiavelli did not originate the policy which bears his 
name. He simply systematized the practices which he saw 
everywhere about him aad said, " To be honest and kindly and 
true is a mistake. The ruler who lives most selfishly, who lies 
most adroitly, who kills most surely, will succeed best." Euro- 
pean diplomacy was greatly influenced from Italy. In many 
ways Machiavellism was its key. 

^ Feudalism was at bottom gross materialism — everything 
reckoned from trround. 



CHAPTER VIIL 



The Reformation. 



SEC. I. SERIOUS QUESTIONS INEVITABLE. 

The Renaissance was at once too rapid and too lim- 
ited to do the world's work. The people could not 
keep the pace. Besides, brilliant achievement in liter- 
atnre and art nia}^ leave the fundamental issues of life 
untouched.^ So it proved here. The result was mental 
and moral dislocation. Defiance of authorit}^ exalted 
intellectual independence to point of intellectual infi- 
delity ; substitution of pagan for Christian tradition let 
loose a flood of immorality. The heart of the church 
never had gone with humanistic cardinals and popes. 
Some instinct of danger gave warning that the new 
order would prove for the hierarchy, not better, but 
worse, than the old."'' At the same time, with unac- 
customed clearness, the old order was seen to be no 
longer tolerable.^ Too little had been done to make 
the world new ; too much to allow the world to go on 
the old wa3^ Men pondered the matter and serious 
questions were asked, i. Is arbitrary authority the 
only alternative to atheism? 2. May there not be an 
emancipation of reason which, while giving scope to 
the good doubt, will deny the legitimacy of intellectual 
suicide? 3. Can any system fairly compass truth 
which permits standing breach between faith and life ? 
20 (141) 



142 THK RKKOKMATION. 

4. In view of wide departure of Peter's successor from 
Peter's practice/ what warrant is there for certainty 
that the teaching of Peter's successor is true to the 
teaching of Peter? 5. Above all, what justification is 
there for unchristian spirit and unchristian deed in the 
body of Christ ? 

^ Or, what is equally far from final solution, approach those 
issues from a wrong point of view. The revival of learning and 
art was also a revival of paganism. 

^ Cardinal Pole advised Leo X that it was dangerous to render 
men too learned. 

' Bossuet declared that reform of church discipline had been 
needed for centuries. St. Bernard exclaimed, " Who will grant 
me before I die to see the church of God as it was in the early 
days! " Cardinal Julian urged upon Eugenius IV the necessity 
of doing something to repress disorder among the clergy. 
"These disorders excite the hatred of the people against all 
ecclesiastical order." " They will attack us when they have no 
longer any hope of our correction." *' I see that the ax is at 
the root, the tree inclines, and instead of sustaining it while it 
might be done we precipitate it to the earth." 

* Comparison between the church of the first century and the 
church of the fifteenth would furnish much food for thought. 
There is a great distance, perhaps in more ways than one, be- 
tween Peter the fisherman apostle and Leo the papal patron of 
letters. More startling still are results when other representa- 
tives of the papal line are named. 



SEC. 2. answp:r not easy. 

Plainly something must be done. Even while men 
pondered the situation grew worse, i. The papacy, 
already secularized, had undergone the shock of the 
Babylonian captivity ' and of the great schism.^ 2. Vital 
difference of judgment had arisen as to relative superi- 
ority of pope and council. 3. The tender ministries of 
the Inquisition had disclosed the mind of the church 



THE REFORMATION. I43 

toward the erring. 4. Ribald, not to say blasphemous, 
treatment of holy things made it all too evident that the 
leaders were promising to the people what they did not 
themselves possess. 5. Moral corruption, increasing 
toward the center, marked the period as darkest in all 
the church's history. 6. Simony, never for long un- 
known, had become an every-day bartering of sacred 
office. 7. Its newest form, the indulgence,'' forced into 
persistent contrast the temple at Jerusalem, cleansed of 
shameless traffic by the founder of the church, and the 
temple at Rome, built through worse traffic by his rep- 
resentative. Such things men could not but see. They 
more than saw, they studied them. Many said, ' ' There 
is more here than appears." Some even were heard 
to ask what manner of being the pope must be if, hav- 
ing the power to save men, he did not save them with- 
out money. The problem was by no means simple. 
Neither humanism nor art could solve it. 

^ In 1309 the papal chair was removed from Rome to Avignon. 
There, of course, the popes, all French, were favorable to 
France and were little more than servants of France. How 
great the violation of tradition must have been in the eyes of 
the world then will be readily understood, if one will only note 
the difficulty even now of conceiving the possibility of a shift- 
ing of the geographical center of the Roman Catholic Church. 
The period of exile lasted until 1378. 

' Italy always resented the transfer of the papacy to France. 
At last open rupture occurred between the Italian and the 
French party. In 1378 each party elected a pope. Thus there 
were two exclusive heads of Christendom — one at Avignon, one 
at Rome. This was bad enough, but worse was to follow. To 
correct an intolerable evil, the Council of Pisa, in 1409, deposed 
both popes and elected a new one. Neither of the old popes 
would yield. Now, instead of two heads Christendom had 
three. In 1414 the Council of Constance succeeded in restoring 
order, and the Catholic world was again under a single head. 



144 I'HE REFORMATION. 

'Origiually only relaxation or comnuitation of canonical 
penance. Later plenar}^ indulgence gave full remission in con- 
sideration of the performance of some religious action in place 
of penance required. Crusaders first enjoyed plenary indul- 
gence. Finally money payments were accepted. In theory 
penitence always accompanied the penance. In its degenerate 
form the indulgence was a matter of business. The purchaser 
paid a stipulated sum and received a full discharge of pains and 
penalties due. The scandal lay in the simoniacal character of 
the transaction. 

One form of absolution sold by Tetzel is reported as follows : 
" May our Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon thee and absolve 
thee by the merits of his most holy passion. And I, by his au- 
thority, that of his most blessed Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, 
and of the most holy Pope, granted and committed to me in 
these parts, do absolve thee, first from all ecclesiastical censures, 
in whatever way they may have been incurred, and then from 
all thy sins and transgressions, how enormous soever they be, 
and even such as are reserved for the cognizance of the Holy 
See, and as far as the keys of the Holy Church extend, I remit 
to you all punishment on their account, which you deserve in 
purgatory ; and I restore you to the holy sacrament of the 
church, to the unity of the faithful, and to that innocence and 
purity which you possessed at baptism ; so that when you die 
the gates of punishment shall be shut and the gates of the para- 
dise of delight opened, and if you shall not die at this time, 
this grace shall be as powerful when you are at the point of 
death." 

Tetzel was worse than the indulgences he bartered. In his 
harangues he used such speech as this : " I would not exchange 
my privileges with St. Peter in heaven ; for I have saved more 
souls with my indulgences than he with his sermons." " Even 
repentance is not indispensable." "There is no sin so great 
that the indulgences cannot remit it ; and even if any one 
should (which is doubtless impossible) ravisli the Holy Virgin 
Mother of God, let him pay, let him only pay largely, and it 
shall be forgiven him."- " The very moment that the nione}' 
clinks against the bottom of the chest the soul escapes from 
purgatory and flies free to heaven." Such language is passed 
over in silence by men who blame Luther for coarseness be- 



THE REFORMATION. I45 

cause he declared that there was no difference between a papist 
and a jackass. It would be a shame to quote Tetzel and the 
indulgence so largely but for their enormous influence upon 
the Reformation. 



SEC. 3. CONTRIBUTIONS THERETO. 

The trouble was not new. It was simpl}' worse than 
before. Men had already tried to remove it. Cathari ' 
of all ages, whatever the special name, insisted that the 
most trustworth}^ evidence of orthodoxy is good char- 
acter. Protest was not new. A line of attempted re- 
forms practicall}^ unbroken since the founding of the 
church told of effort, unhappily for the most part 
futile, to realize the mind of Christ. Passing the so- 
called heresies of the first thousand 3'ears, we may 
name Claude of Turin, Peter of Bruys, the Vaudois, 
the Waldenses, the Albigenses, Wycliffe,"^ Arnold of 
Brescia,'"' Savonarola, Joachim of Floris,^ the Mystics, 
Huss,^ Jerome of Prague, and the men who strove for 
Council as against Pope at Pisa and Constance. Part 
of these were good churchmen calling for purification 
of the church. Part had made ecclesiastical breach, 
insisting that the body of Christ must be sought not 
within but without the organization which bore his 
name. To such demands the uniform answer was a 
charge of heresy. Declaring a man a heretic may 
prove him heterodox, but does not prove him wrong. 
Until a course is proved wrong it is likely to be con- 
tinued. So in spite of frequent kindling of the fires of 
hell by excommunication of headstrong insistence that 
good life is in its way as important as an approved 
creed, men were found in every century who declared 
that as long as they could not be both, they would 
rather be right than orthodox. 



146 THK REFORMATION. 

^ A term, which may be roughly translated by Puritans, cov- 
ering a number of sects. They won their name by claims of 
superior sanctity, some of which appear to have been but scantily 
justified. A distinguishing tenet was opposition to the hie- 
rarchy. Among those who at different times bore the name were 
the Novatians, the Pauliciaiis, the Albigenses, and the Wal- 
denses. In general they rejected tradition, denied the authority 
of Rome, and forbade the worship of saints and images. 

•^1324-1384. Translated Bible into English. Aman of learn- 
ing and piety. Declared that no writing, not even a papal 
decree, has validity further than comes from agreement with 
Scripture. From him sprang the Lollards. Huss and Jerome 
of Prague were in a way his disciples. Wycliffe died a natural 
death, but by order of Council of Constance his body was ex- 
humed and burned. His ashes were thrown into the Swift, flow- 
ing near by. "The Swift conveyed them into the Avon, the 
Avon into the Severn, the Severn into the narrow seas, and 
they into the main ocean ; and thus the ashes of Wycliffe are 
the emblem of his doctrine, which is now scattered over all the 
world." 

' Demanded that clergy should renounce temporal possession 
and power and return to simplicity of apostolic service. 

* Preached a dispensation of the spirit in preparation for whose 
near advent church must put away manifold errors. 

^ When summoned to recant at Council of Constance he stead- 
ily refused to do so unless convicted by scripture. The death 
of Huss was a blot upon Christendom, for he held safe conduct 
of Bmperor Sigismund, which was thus violated. 

SEC. 4. THE ISSUE. 

The issue was again drawn, this time clearer than 
ever before, Has conscience any rights as against tra- 
dition, reason as against authority? More vital yet 
was question of man's hope of salvation. Were the 
sacraments the exclusive channels of grace in such 
fashion that only through them and the priest whose 
functioning made them effective could the soul find 
God ? Important qtiestions these, especially the latter, 



THK re;formation. 147 

for on the answer depended the status of the hierarchy/ 
The church could not hesitate as to that answer. The 
enlarged use of the indulgence was itself the church's 
answer. Not only did the church mediate grace to the 
individual, but it could transfer grace. ^ Against this 
rose emphatic protest that the truth lies in other prin- 
ciples. I . The relations and obligations of the soul to 
God are immediate and inalienable.^ 2. The Script- 
ures, not the Pope, are the source of doctrine.* 3. The 
interpretation of scripture is the legitimate task of the 
individual judgment. 

^ A tradition widely and persistently current credited the 
Elector with a curious dream the night of October 31, 15 17, the 
very date the theses were posted The Elector, in his castle at 
Schweinitz, eighteen miles from Wittenberg, fell asleep ponder- 
ing how he should keep the festival of All Saints next day. In 
his sleep he received a monk, a true son of St. Paul. The monk 
asked permission to write something on the door of the castle 
church at Wittenberg. Permission given, the monk took a pen 
and wrote. The letters were so large that the Elector could read 
them at Schweinitz. The pen kept getting longer and longer, 
until at last it reached to Rome, where it wounded the ears of a 
lion and shook the triple crown on the pontiff's head. Cardinals 
and princes and the Elector himself put out their hands to steady 
the tottering crown. All princes and spiritual potentates hast- 
ened to Rome to break the pen. The more they tried, the harder 
they found the task. The Elector asked the monk where he got 
so strong a pen. The monk said it once belonged to the wing 
of a goose in Bohemia. Presently a loud noise was heard. A 
number of other pens had issued from the long pen, and all 
were writing. The Elector awoke. It was morning. Within 
a few hours he was to learn that his dream was more than a 
dream. The fundamental principle of Luther was a standing 
menace to the hierarchy. 

^The superabundant merits of Christ and of the saints were 
counted a store subject to the dispensation of the Pope, who 
could therefore apply them to others, according to need. 

' To regard the Reformation merely as a revolt from ecclesias- 



148 thp: reformation. 

tical oppression is to mistake its character altogether. " It was 
not mere negation to an oppressive hierarch}^ except as it was 
first positive and evangelic, touching the direct and indefeasible 
relations and obligations of the soul to its Maker. Only when 
the hierarchy claimed to qualify these direct relations and obli- 
gations, thrust itself between the soul and its Redeemer, and 
by eternal penalties sought to hold the conscience bound to 
human authorities and traditions, did the Reformation protest 
and take issue." 

*In a sense the Reformation was the restoration of the au- 
thority of the Bible. For this Wycliffe stood. SodidHussand 
Jerome of Prague, and, most of all, Luther. 



SEC. 5. LUTHER. 

Loudest protest came by Lnther. Some say his 
protest was too loud. It may be so, but in storm one 
has to speak loudly to be heard. Men say he was 
rough. ^ This, too, may well be, for he belonged to an 
age gentle neither in deed nor in speech, and one does 
not fold one's hands in a wrestle with death. The 
Reformation suffered many vicissitudes. Central to 
them all was Luther. To know the Reformation one 
must know him. 

I. Chronology. Beginning and end were 1483, 1546. 
Other essential dates are: 1517, theses posted at Wit- 
tenberg; 1520, papal bull of excommunication burned; 
1 52 1, Diet of Worms; 1529, Second Diet of Spires; 
1530, Augsburg Confession; 1545, translation of Bible 
revised. 2. Character. Zealous, able, untiring, rugged, 
impetuous, forceful; lo3^al to truth, •^ impatient of un- 
certaint}^ unshrinking in danger,'' steadfast in trial; un- 
selfish, eloquent; great in mind and heart. 3. Service. 
Manifold and important, (i) Voiced religiotis need 
of his time calling for reformation of church in head 
and members. (2) This call unheeded, led strenuous 



THE REFORMA'TlON. 14^ 

work of rebuilding church on New Testament founda- 
tion. (3) Thus served as apostle of spiritual renais- 
sance/ (4) Gave Bible \o people. (5) Prepared last- 
ing inspiration for German education and literature. 

(6) Compelled betterment of church he antagonized. 

(7) Rediscovered principle of primitive Christianity. 

(8) Vindicated claims of private judgment. (9) Opened 
way to modern freedom.^ 4. Influence. The greatest 
single figure in modern civilization. 

^Contemporaries and historians differ widely in their judg- 
ment of Luther. To the Catholic he was a heretic and schis- 
matic, and therefore accursed. To the Protestant he was the 
servant of the Almighty appointed to lead the church into the 
old and right way. Luther was unquestionably vigorous of 
speech, seldom overnice in the choice of words. His tempest- 
uousness somehow seems to have been needed. It was part and 
parcel of that something that made him a leader and that com- 
pelled a hearing. Calvin was a greater theologian, Erasmus a 
more gifted writer, Melancthon a lovelier character, but Luther 
was the man who led the Reformation. Further, he would 
have been more or less than human if he had always used ele- 
gant diction in answering attacks upon him. These exhausted 
several languages in reviling him. What seems like great un- 
fairness appears in estimates of his character. He was no fault- 
less saint. But he was no such devil as his opponents painted 
him. Expressions whose intent is apparent to the most casual 
glance are twisted into confessions of remorse, debauchery, and 
crime. The ingenuity displa3-ed in attempting to besmirch the 
moral character of both Catharine and Luther is little less than 
diabolical. This is the more noticeable when exhibited by apol- 
ogists of popes whose immorality was open and shameless. The 
day may come when justice will be done Luther. In that day 
men will no longer argue that because a man is a heretic he 
must be adulterous and beastly ; nor that because he is a leader 
of reform, therefore he is an angel. 

' At memorable Diet of Worms he defended position which 
marked his attitude through life. " Unless I am convinced by 



150 THE REFORMATION. 

proofs from Holy Scripture or by sound reasons, and my judg- 
ment by this means is commanded by God's Word, 1 cannot 
and will not retract anything, for a Christian cannot safely go 
contrary to his conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other- 
wise. So help me God ! Amen." 

^ No man ever faced greater peril, no man ever faced peril 
more bravely, than Luther at Worms. The stream on who.se 
banks the Diet met had borne the ashes of Huss and Jerome, 
burned for less cause than Luther showed. With many, per- 
haps most, he was already adjudged. "Little monk," said 
George of Frundsberg, touching the reformer's shoulder as he 
passed through the anteroom into the Diet, " little monk, thou 
hast work before thee that I and many a man whose trade is 
war never faced the like of." 

*The Renaissance was the revival of ancient literature and 
art. Not improperly the Reformation may be termed the re- 
vival of primitive Christianity. 

* Michelet, who has no sympathy at all with Luther religiousl3% 
says: " It is not incorrect to say that Luther has been the re- 
storer of liberty in modern times. If he denied it in theory, he 
established it in practice. If he did not create, he courageously 
affixed his signature to that great revolution which rendered 
the right of examination lawful in Europe. And if we exercise 
in all its plenitude at this day this first and highest privilege 
of human intelligence, it is to him we are mostly indebted for 
it, nor can we think, speak, or write without being made con- 
scious at every step of the immense benefit of this intellectual 
enfranchisement. To whom do I ow^e the power of publishing 
what I am even now indicting, except to the liberator of mod- 
ern thought? " 

SEC. 6. OTHER FACTORS. 

To assume that Luther did his work alone would be 
to belittle his work and him. As aiding, we may name: 
I. Humanistic cooperation,^ partly indirect, in revolt 
against tradition, partly direct, in more or less out- 
spoken defense of the new movement. Most of them 
refusing to break with Rome, Hutten, Spalatin, Huss, 



THE REFORMATION. I5I 

Reuchlin, Erasmus, and Melancthon must especially be 
counted. 2. Co-leadership of Zwingle in Switzerland, 
Calvin in Switzerland and France, Knox in Scotland. 
3. Noble patronage, without which the new movement 
was doomed ; above all, that of the Saxon Elector, 
Frederick the Wise.^ 4. Establishment of national 
church in England.^ 5. Hostility to Emperor, whose 
enormous hereditary dominions * threatened to engulf 
all lesser kingdoms in Europe, and whose character as 
a foreigner made him hateful to Germany. 6. Bitter 
rivalry between Emperor and Francis I of France. 
7. Entanglement of Emperor in enterprises which for 
a time forbade special attention to German affairs. 8. 
Turkish activity, never wholly quieted after capture of 
Constantinople, threatening center of Europe for two 
centuries and just now unusually intense. 9. Not small 
alienation of popular sympathy from old religious 
leaders. 10. Tremendous force of public opinion. 

^ After a time Luther had virtually to break with the humanists. 
Neither interest nor conviction carried them beyond half-way 
measures, and Luther knew that half-way measures could no 
longer save the world. The break proved an advantage in that 
it enlisted popular support. 

' A character for which one's admiration increases with ac- 
quaintance. He might have had the imperial crown in place of 
Charles V. As it was, he was made reg^ent until Charles could 
undertake imperial duties. Nowhere does Frederick appear to 
nobler advantage than in his memorable answer to the Emperor, 
who urged him to surrender Luther. " No," said the Elector, 
" not until the case is fairly judged. It is not just to condemn 
a good and honest man unheard and unconvicted. Justice inust 
take precedence even of the Pope.'' Here is a new voice in the 
world. 

2 Under Henry VIII. A political movement from the start, in 
that the king was declared head of church. Occasion, not cause, 
which lay deeper, was disagreement with Rome over divorce of 



152 THE REFORMATION. 

Queen Catherine. There is more than passing wisdom in the 
pithy summing up of the causes of the Reformation by Frederick 
the Great : "In Germany, interest ; in England, hist ; in France, 
novelty." 

* Austria, Burgundy, Netherlands, United Spain, Naples, Sicily, 
America. Charles' power was more formidable on the map than 
it was in fact. Domains so scattered must always be ruled with 
difficulty. 

SEC. 7. EXTENT OF THE MOVEMENT. 

This must be reckoned in two directions. Inten- 
sively it went to complete breach with Rome ^ : against 
the hierarchy, exalting the common priesthood of be- 
lievers ; against finality of papal utterance, exalting the 
word of God. Extensively it swept the Teutonic world. 
Germany, German Switzerland, Holland, Norway, 
Sweden, Denmark, England, and Scotland followed 
the Reformation, as did also for a time Hungary, and 
in part French Switzerland and France. The line of 
division is not exact, but is too plain to be mistaken. 
The Teutonic nations became Protestant. The Eatin 
nations remained Catholic.'' 

^This came gradually. Luther called for reform, not breach 
of church. Doctrines diametricall}^ opposed and held tena- 
ciously could result only in separation. At first reformers did 
not see this. Even the Augsburg Confession disclaimed all in- 
tention of a new church. Apparently breach might have been 
long postponed if at outset Pope Leo had grasped the situation 
strongly instead of pooh-poohing "a monkish squabMe," or if 
abuses had been corrected when recognized. But it was soon 
found that a strong spirit was already abroad, which lacked only 
the voice now furnished by Luther. So the breach, inevitable 
some time, was accomplished. 

'The student of political science will not be slow to recognize 
in this distribution a mark of the fundamental difference be- 
tween the Latin genius for universality and the Teutonic genius 
for national development. 



THE REFORMATION. 153 



SEC. 8. THE DARKER SIDE. 

The record of the Reformation is by no means all 
pleasant reading. Change of faith for many was ac- 
companied by shock to life. Misconceptions abounded. 
I. Reaction from authority meant for a time uncertain 
standards. The bigamy of the Landgrave of Hesse, 
sanctioned, one adds with shame, by both Luther and 
Melancthon, while not the most revolting, was the 
most painful example. 2. Gospel freedom was mis- 
conceived as a warrant for defiance of order. Without 
regard to law, old obligations were canceled, and revolt 
from the church was followed by rebellion against the 
civil authority, often when only ill could come of it. 
3. Partly inspired by new movement, partly exploiting 
it, the lower orders took arms for the devil's work of 
the Peasants' War.^ It was a desperate and hopeless 
undertaking, which cost 100,000 lives and strengthened 
the bonds it sought to break. 4. The wild utterances 
of fanaticism brought untold discredit. Mistaking 
noise for inspiration and a spirit of confusion for the 
revelation of God, an order of spiritual anarchists arose 
whose best-known representatives were the Prophets of 
Zwickau ' and the Mad Men of Miinster. ' 5. The body 
of Christ was rent by controversy, bitterness, and divis- 
ion. Lutherans, Calvinists, and Zwinglians were only 
less hostile to one another than they were toward the 
Catholics. 6. Unlovely traits darkened the character 
of many of the reformers.* Some of the crises of the 
Reformation turned upon very worldly considerations.' 
The right of private judgment was often tested by 
standard of leaders. Luther was himself a kind of 
Protestant pope.^ 



154 I'HE REFORMATION. 

^ The Reformation can hardly be blamed for the Peasants' 
War. Before the Reformation was thought of peasant revolt 
had been again and again tried. In Switzerland it had suc- 
ceeded two centuries before. The dark days of the Bundschuh 
had closed the preceding centur3^ The Peasants' War was only 
an enlargement and continuation of the old struggle. A list of 
real grievances was laid in vain before the nobles. Petition 
was answered by violence. Violence awakened violence. It 
was a bitter, cruel struggle, in which dark deeds were done on 
both sides. It ended in complete discomfiture to the peasants. 
Luther condemned the revolt and supported the nobles in their 
efforts to suppress it. 

2 One of the abnormalities of the so-called Anabaptist move- 
ment. They were a motley crowd. Claus Storch was at first 
most prominent. Carlstadt of Wittenberg presently joined 
them. They wanted no priests, for they were themselves priests 
and prophets. They needed no Bible, for they were themselves 
inspired. Driven from Zwickau, they spread widely, carrying 
the elements of disorder with them everywhere. A particu- 
larly notable name later was Miinzer, a disciple of Storch. The 
peasantry counted him a great prophet. He justified their ex- 
pectations by appealing to the sword. His proclamation at 
Miihlhausen betrays his character. "Arise ! fight the battle of 
the Lord ! On ! on ! on ! while the fire is burning ; on while 
the hot sword is yet reeking with the slaughter ! Give the fire 
no time to go out, the sword no time to cool ! Kill all the 
proud ones : While one of them lives you will not be free from 
the fear of man ! While they reign over you it is no use to talk 
of God! Amen." Signed "Thomas Miinzer, servant of God 
against the wicked. " 

^ Set up a theocracy at Miinster, in Westphalia. The leaders 
were a baker of Haarlem and a tailor of Le)^den. The latter, 
Johann Bockhold, known in history as John of Leyden, was king 
of Zion. King John had visions and revelations. Among other 
divine announcements was one bidding John do as he pleased. 
He pleased to have several wives. Polygamy was legalized and 
encouraged. The theocracy became a nest of uncleanness. 
After more than a year of this the town was taken by its ex- 
pelled bishop and order restored. 

* Luther declined reconciliation with Zwingle. They dis- 
agreed about the Lord's Supper. Luther insisted that the words, 



'THE REF^ORMATION. 



155 



" This is my body," must be taken literally, Melancthon said 
they were symbolic. After heated dispute they still disagreed. 
Notwithstanding this, Zwingle ofifered his hand in fellowship. 
Luther refused it, saying, "Ye are of another spirit." Nearly 
all the reformers were open to charge of overstrenuousnesss for 
their particular view of truth,' identifying it with God's. 

^ The Landgrave of Hesse threatened to go over to the Cath- 
olics if the Protestant leaders would not let him have another 
wife. The shame is that the leaders yielded the point, sanction- 
ing bigamy rather than lose him. 

^ "Ivuther," said Melancthon, " has placed upon our head a 
yoke of iron instead of a yoke of wood." 



SEC. 9. COUNTER-REFORMATION. 

By no means the least of Luther's triumphs la}^ within 
the church itself. Romanism, rather than Calvinism, 
should bear the name Reformed Church. Efforts to- 
ward reform had been made before the Reformation. 
The church itself deplored the difference between creed 
and life in bad popes. Not a few men properly classed 
as Luther's helpers wrought within the church. The 
great councils of Pisa and Constance had in mind the 
correction of abuses. Besides these, many strove to 
renew strength of church, stimulated thereto by very 
success of attack. Renov^ation and aggression became 
watchwords of church reform. Three elements may be 
emphasized, i. The Council of Trent. Definitely and 
unequivocally condemned the distinguishing tenets of 
protestantism, thus compacting and consolidating the 
church.^ So far from having to undergo reform, the 
papacy saved its prerogatives and even won new ground 
in better organization of hierarch3^ 2. The Inquisition 
was employed as an advocate of orthodoxy. Its effect 
in steadying faith ^ was marvelous throughout southern 
Europe, especially in Italy and Spain. 3, The Society 



156 THE REFORMATION. 

of Jesus. Renewal within the church has always been 
marked by revival or reorganization of the monastic 
spirit. The Society of Jesus signalized the new move- 
ment. It was a new knighthood, an order of spiritual 
chivalry. The dominant note of the order was obedi- 
ence. Loyola thus gave to the Pope in 1 540 the choicest 
instrument imaginable for controlling the affairs of the 
world. ^ In all these ways the failing fortunes of the 
church were revived and vast missionary territory was 
.won for the papal domain, partly compensating for 
ground lost. 

1 Henceforth there could be no excuse for S3'mpathy with the 
teachings of I/Uther. 

'The wavering were at once decided. Most settled back to 
the church, others went into voluntary exile. Division was thus 
avoided. . 

'The motto of the Society is ad majoram Dei gloriant. The 
field of operation was unlimited. Members of the order were 
placed in all positions. Their educational enterprise was very 
great. Not less great was their missionary zeal. No brighter 
name can be found in missionary annals than that of Francis 
Xavier. A noble, talented and ambitious, he was won by Loyola. 
He became in special sense the missionary of the society, 
" carrying his cross, his Bible, breviary, and wallet to India and 
the Indian isles, and even to Japan and China, till at last he laid 
down his life, after eleven long years of heroic labor, stretched 
on the sand of the sea-shore of a lonely island in the Chinese 
seas, with his cross in his hand, tears of holy joy in his eyes, 
and uttering the words, * In Thee have I put my trust, let me 
never be confounded,' " It is said that Xavier won no less than 
a million converts. 

SEC. 10. POLITICAL FOOTING. 

Whether for good or evil, the Reformation could not 
remain a purely religious question. The relation of 
church and state under the old order practically iden- 



THK REFORMATION. jcy 

tified heresy and treason. Dreading the stain of blood 
the church deHvered the spiritual culprit to the secular 
arm. But for the sympathy of Elector Frederick, 
IvUther's life after 15 17 would not have been worth a 
straw. As a heretic, Luther was summoned to Worms. 
As a lieretic he was put under the ban of the Empire 
Protestantism was heresy. The movement, like the 
leader, could be safe only by political support. Such 
support came. Elector Frederick was a true defender 
from the beginning. Other princes— some from relig- 
ious conviction,^ some from hatred of Rome, some from 
jealousy of the Empire, some from other motives- 
favored the movement. So it came about that the 
Smalcald League could be formed, uniting many cities 
of South Germany and most North German cities and 
principalities against Catholic coercion. Strenuous oc- 
cupation with other matters prevented imperial execu- 
tion of the Augsburg decree, the Turks and Francis I 
both pressing the Emperor hard. By the irony of fate 
the Pope, dreading too great success of Charles and re- 
senting imperial encroachment upon papal rights in 
connection with Council of Trent, ^' covertly aided Prot- 
estants. So it was that on eve of crushing Protestant- 
ism in Smalcaldic war Emperor found himself ham- 
pered and baffled. Defection of Maurice of Saxony, 
hitherto Emperor's right-hand man, completed his dis- 
comfiture. Henceforth Empire, as well as church, was 
hopelessly divided. All that remained was to fix con- 
ditions under which Catholic and Protestant might live 
together. 

1 Noble example of such was Elector John the Constant, Fred- 
erick's brother and successor in 1525, who sat in memorable 
Diet of Augsburg, 1530. After fruitless efforts after compro- 



158 THE REFORMATION. 

mise the majority decided upon restoration of old ecclesiastical 
institutions, allowing, however, a year for Protestant reflection. 
After that force would be used. ' ' Nothing in the history of the 
Reformation is more pathetic than the conduct of the Elector, 
who, in the full prospect of the ruin of every earthly interest and 
not without the deepest sensibility from his attachment to the 
Emperor and to the peace of the Empire, nevertheless resolved 
to stand by 'the imperishable Word of God,' The reformers 
were willing to release him from all obligation to protect them, 
to take whatever lot Providence might send upon them ; but this 
true-hearted prince refused to compromise in the least his sacred 
convictions." 

' Charles was bent upon associating himself with the Council 
of Trent in dealing with Protestantism. His particular plan was 
regarded by Pope and Catholics generally as usurping powers 
not belonging to secular ruler. Charles thought that Protestant 
lands could be won back to church by correction of external 
abuses. The Council had no mind for such measures and had 
begun its work b}' out-and-out condemnation of Protestantism. 



SEC. II. THE REFORMATION RECOGNIZED. 

A provisional agreement was reached in Treaty of 
Passau, 1552. The main article of this was that all 
religious and. political differences should be settled by 
a Diet to be summoned at an early day. Meanwhile 
neither Emperor nor Protestant prince was to violate 
freedom of conscience in his dominion. If questions 
arose they were to be referred to an imperial commis- 
sion composed equally of Catholics and Protestants. 
The promised Diet was held in 1555, at Augsburg.^ 
Conceding the impossibility of settling the religious 
issue as matters stood, but desiring peace for the Em- 
pire, the Diet adopted the Peace of Augsburg. The 
guarantees of this peace were these, i. Every ruler 
was to be allowed free choice between the Catholic faith 
and the Augsburg Confession. 2. The religion of the 



THE REFORMATION. 159 

prince was normative for the subject.^ 3. Any subject 
finding his conscience injured by this might migrate. 
4. Ecclesiastical estates in Protestant possession at date 
of peace should so remain in perpetuit}'-. 5. Fateful 
provision, by the reservaUini ecclesiasticunv' function- 
aries and officers of ecclesiastical estates espousing 
Protestantism must resign their benefices. 

Here is no final settlement, as the merest glance will 
show. Other than Lutheran dissenters are unprovided 
for. The question of property will certainly make 
trouble. Many vital questions are untouched. The 
principle cujus regio ejus religio gives only mock tolera- 
tion at best. Still, this agreement assured Protestant- 
ism legal status. Henceforth it could maintain its 
rights without the disadvantage of being counted an 
outlaw. 

^ Earlier meeting was impossible because of war waged by 
empire against France to regain certain bishoprics of Lorraine, 
of which the French had taken possession. 

'By declaration of Emperor subjects of ecclesiastical princes 
were to have religious liberty. 

2 Forced through Diet by Emperor in face of determined op- 
position. On failure to defeat the olmoxious measure, its adver- 
saries insisted upon having their protest inserted in the treaty. 
Hardly the cause, but the patent occasion of the Thirty Years' 
War lay in this article. 

SEC. 12. GENERAL RESULTS. 

I. Ecclesiastical empire broken up. When Luther 
was born every crown in western Europe was subject to 
Pope. When he died the-bulk of the Teutonic world 
had achieved ecclesiastical independence. 2. Way 
opened for strengthening and compacting national life. 
Henceforth when state church was recognized the ruler 



\ 



l60 THE REFORMATION. 

was its head. 3. International relations multiplied. 
Co-religionists in different countries would have com- 
mon interests.^ 4. The seeker directed to Bible as basis 
of Christian doctrine, and to salvation by faith in Christ 
alone. 5. Life newly conceived as immediately re- 
sponsible to God. 6. Religion purified within and with- 
out church. 7. Impulse given education, language, and 
literature. 8. Foundation laid for civil and religious 
liberty.^ 

^ At times yielding strange results. The French king aided 
and abetted Protestantism on German territor}^, while sternly 
repressing it within his own. His motive, however, was purely 
political. 

' " The Protestant revolution was but one wave of the advanc- 
ing tide of modern civilization. It was a great revolutionary 
wave, the onward swell of which, beginning with the refusal of 
reform at the Diet of Worms, produced the Peasants' War and 
the sack of Rome, swept on through the revolt of the Nether- 
lands, the Thirty Years' War, the Puritan Revolution in England 
under Oliver Cromwell, the formation of the great independent 
American republic, until it came to a head and broke in all the 
terrors of the French Revolution. It is impossible not to see in 
the course of the events of this remarkable period an onward 
movement as irresistible and certain in its ultimate progress as 
that of the geological changes which have passed over the phys- 
ical world." 



CHAPTER IX. 



The Thirty Years' War. 



SEC. I. A HALF CKNTURY OF DISCORD. 

The Peace of Augsburg was in no sense final. ^ It 
gave legal status to Protestantism in one form. Unity 
of church and of empire so tenaciously defended was 
thereby broken. Beyond sacrifice of unity was hard- 
ship to all communions. Catholics no less than Prot- 
estants were oppressed b}^ the principle cicjits regio ejus 
religio. Protestants other than lyUtherans were doubly 
exposed. Calvinists especially suffered. Turn Cath- 
olic they could not, for Calvin was more radical than 
Luther himself. Subscribe to Lutheranism they could 
not, for between Calvinism and Lutherism existed in- 
credible bitterness."^ Even when princes of the empire 
from Catholicism embraced Calvinism,^ the best their 
subjects could hope was a kind of second-hand tolera- 
tion, because of assumed likeness with Lutheran faith. 
The fiction did its work, thanks to strength of Calvin- 
istic princes too powerful to be molested; but fiction 
is a poor substitute for law. Such conditions were little 
conducive to harmony. Many score petty principalities 
with all the ambitions, jealousies, and intrigues of king- 
doms, furnished a worthy political background for un- 
ceasing religious strife. It was a disheartening period, 

23 (161) 



l62 THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 

whose record is written in oppression, bitterness, and 
mutual accusations of broken faith. 

^ Menzel describes this as a false peace, ' ' the most lawless ever 
concerted in Germany." "A mere political agreement provis- 
ionally entered into by the princes for the benefit, not of re- 
ligion, but of themselves. Popular opinion was dumb, knights, 
burgesses, and peasants bending in lowly submission to the 
mandate of their sovereigns. Freedom of belief, confined to 
the immediate subjects of the empire — <?. ^., to the reigning 
princes, the free nobility, and the city councilors — was monop- 
olized by at most 20,000 privileged persons." 

■^ Frederick V could not command support of brother Protest- 
ants for his Bohemian enterprise largely because he was a Cal- 
vinist. Most of his woes he deserved, not even excepting this 
isolation. His stupid, unyielding temper refused toleration to 
Lutherans in the Palatinate even after the immense service of 
Gustavus Adolphus in winning it back. L/Utherans were as little 
tolerant of Calvinism. Expressions like the following were 
not only tolerated, ])ut encouraged at the I^utheran court of 
Saxony. " To take up arms for the Calvinists is nothing else 
than to serve under the father of Calvinism, the devil.'' " We 
ought to give our lives for our brethren, but the Calvinists are 
not our brethren." " We ought to love our enemies : the Cal- 
vinists are not our enemies but God's." 

^Earliest were Count Palatine, 1559 ; Archbishop of Cologne, 
1582. 



SEC. 2. DISCORD DEEPENS INTO HOSTIUTY. 

Fundamental disagreement was given edge and point 
by several considerations: i. Effectiveness of Jesuit 
organization. If the ecclesiastical empire could be re- 
stored at all it would be under their leadership, and their 
activity increased with success.^ 2. Unsettled issues 
of the reservatitm ecclesiasticiun. Status of property secu- 
larized before Passau was clear enough, but what about 
the process after that date?^ 3. Forcible reconversion 



THK THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 163 

of secularized estates. Monasteries and ecclesiastical 
principalities become ProtestantsincePassau were turned 
back into Catholic possession wherever imperial power 
sufficed.' 4. Unmistakable purpose of Emperor thereby 
disclosed. The suppression of heresy was regarded as 
the only way to political unity. 5. Disturbance of im- 
perial order. Defiance of the central authority had so 
often associated itself with the reform movement, that 
men saw in the Reformation the cause of all the empire's 
woe. 6. Hopeless disagreement of Protestants.* Ap- 
parently it would be easy to subdue them* divided as 
they were ; at any rate, their quarrels seemed to prove 
them the enemies of God and man. 7. Horror of Haps- 
burg cruelty. The Netheriands drenched with blood' 
shed by Spanish hands foretold only too plainly the fate 
of German Protestants at the hand of Austrian branch 
of the same family. 8. Massacre of St. Bartholomew. 
Royal treachery, barbarity, and appalling death list 
made this a name at which men shudder to this day.'' 
9. Bitterness born of helplessness. The institutions' of 
the empire, always inadequate, were powerless to solve 
the contradiction — the people on one side, the princes 
on the other. Europe in general, Germany in partic- 
ular, was divided into two hostile camps, each hating 
the other in the name of God. 

^ It was largely by them that the Pope triumphed at the Coun- 
cil of Trent. The German complication opened a great field for 
them. By 1618 there were several, some say thirteen, thousand 
there. They played a very important part in the emperor's at- 
tempt to coerce Protestantism. 

^ Protestants accepted the reservatum ecclesiasticcum at Augs- 
burg only under protest. It is perhaps not to be wondered 
at that they deemed valid the continuance of the secularizing 
process. 



164 THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 

' Four cases of secularized monasteries had been decided in 
favor of Catholics. Accepting that as a decision for all, the 
emperor did not hesitate to lay hands on them as stolen property 
wherever possible. As about two hundred had passed into Prot- 
estant hands, this decision was a serious matter. 

* Nothing in all that painful time was so discouraging as this. 
Protestanism united could have worked its will in Germany. 
The imperfections of its leaders is the more distressing because 
of the unique opportunity they thus lost. Worst of all was the 
consequent discrediting of the Protestant principle. Men who 
cursed the Pope for desiring to stand guard over the conscience 
insisted upon doing the same thing themselves. 

^Revolt of ^Netherlands was at first political protest against 
fate which bound country to Spain on distribution of Charles 
V's dominions. An important factor from the beginning, pres- 
ently the main factor, however, was religion. Philip II, the 
new master, resolved to root out Protestantism. The heroic 
resistance and final victory of the United Provinces make one 
of the finest chapters in the history of the world. The struggle 
lasted from 1567 to 1648, Spain conceding her claim only nine 
years later still. It was as bloody as it was long. 

^1572. The most striking incident of the civil war in France 
between Catholic and Huguenot. It grew out of supposed neces- 
sity for removing Admiral Coligny, the great Protestant leader. 
An attempt to assassinate him failed. The Queen mother, leader 
of the Catholic party, worked upon the mind of Charles IX by 
representing the Huguenots in arms to avenge attempt on 
Coligny's life, while Catholics, wearied by royal favor toward 
their opponents, were ready to turn to the Duke of Guise as 
their chief. Charles in a panic of rage and fear bade slay Co- 
ligny and with him every Huguenot, that none might be left to 
reproach his perfidious king. The slaughter centered in Paris, 
but spread throughout France. Accounts differ as to number 
of victims, running all the way from 22,000 to 100,000. 

"^ The main institution was the Diet, a modification of the old 
feudal Assembly. It was composed of three houses : i. The 
Seven Electors. 2. The House of Princes, lay and ecclesiastical. 
3. The Free Imperial Cities, a distinctly inferior body. The 
great defect was disposition to ignore the people. It was the 
prince that counted, not his subjects. 



THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 16^ 



SEC. 3. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF RELIGION. 

The map of Europe in 1618 was by no means a simple 
chart. It might be described as a chess-board, were it 
not that a chess-board has orderly arrangement and is 
intended for an orderly game, while Europe could show 
neither. The general division was clear enough. Prox- 
imity to Rome, the inquisition, Latin proclivities, eccle- 
siastical loyalty, tradition, and conviction held Spain, 
Portugal, and Italy unwaveringly Catholic, prince and 
people. France stood with the Latin group, as was 
natural, waging relentless war with the Huguenots, 
whose contention was as pronouncedly political ^ as re- 
ligious, compelling identification of Catholic and Na- 
tional. The Teutonic group was prevailingly Protestant, 
together with sparse Slavonic "^ and even Tartar ^ addi- 
tions, though this group was honeycombed with church 
principalities, many still true to the Pope. Bavaria led 
the Catholic host, and the Austrian princes, including 
the emperor, were Catholic. Within the Protestant 
group subdivision must be noted. England had its own 
national church. Sweden, Denmark, and North Ger- 
many proper were Lutheran. South Germany had large 
Calvinistic * element, as had also Switzerland, Protestant 
France, Holland, and Scotland. 

^This consideration must always be kept in mind. Outrages 
like the massacres of Vassy in 1562 and St. Bartholomew in 1572 
deserved all the curses heaped upon them. But much of the 
time the government was compelled to deal with Huguenots, 
whose communication with foreign powers made them a source 
of peril to France. Unlike Germany, France had worked out 
a strong central government. The Huguenots, bearing in this 
the mark of their Swiss origin, were republican in spirit. They 
established virtual independencies — e. g., Rochelle, little but 



l66 THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 

dangerous imperia in imperio — withiu the kingdom. Later they 
learned better, as did all Frenchmen. France showed political 
wisdom in compelling their submission, and thereby escaped the 
political fate of Germany. 

^This notably in Bohemia. 

' In Hungary. Protestantism made headway in Hungary under 
two forms. The Hungarian Germans were attracted by Luther- 
anism, the Hungarian Magyars by Calvinism. 

*The first prince to embrace Calvinism was the Elector Pala- 
tine, in 1559. Gardiner calls attention to exposed condition of 
South German Protestantism. *' The states of the south, lying 
like a wedge driven into the heart of European Catholicism, 
were forced by their geographical position to be ever on the 
alert. ' ' This may have had something to do with the sterner faith 
of those southern men. " If Wiirtemberg continued Ivutheran 
under the influence of the University of Tiibingen, the rulers of 
the Palatinate, of Hesse-Cassel, of Baden-Durlach, of Zwei- 
Briicken, sought for strength in the iron discipline of Calvinism, 
a form of religion which always came into favor when there was 
an immediate prospect of a death struggle with Rome." 



SEC. 4. CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT CLAIMS. 

Underlying all was the fundamental difference. The 
Protestant said, Salvation by faith in Christ alone, re- 
vealed in the Bible, which every man may read, and 
wrought by the Holy Spirit who may use human aids, 
but not in such sense as to make priest or pope the dis- 
penser of life. To all this the Catholic said. The Bible 
interpreted only by authority, the spirit working only 
through the church, salvation by Christ indeed, but 
mediated only through Christ's vicar. To an age lack- 
ing the most rudimentary conception of toleration a 
whole world of trouble lay in this. But this difference 
had fought itself into exhaustion and a kind of settle- 
ment in the Peace of Augsburg. It was special con- 
siderations' that counted now. i. The church lands 



THE THIRTY YKARS' WAR. 1 67 

secularized before Passau were to stay secularized, but 
might process of secularization continue ? '^ Protestant 
said yes, Catholic said no.. 2. By the reservatict?i eccle- 
siasticiim a spiritual prince changing faith must leave 
emoluments, property, and subjects; but if Chapter 
electing such prince were of a mind with him might 
they not all go together ? ^ Protestant said yes, Cath- 
olic said no. 3. When Peace of Augsburg was signed 
the contracting parties thought only of themselves, so 
that by terms of peace only Lutherans had legal status 
with Catholics. Now, that there were Protestants other 
than Lutherans, might not those others be recognized ?* 
Protestant said yes, Catholic said no. 

^ In every case, however, these considerations arose from de- 
fect in terms of that peace. 

■^CathoHcs fought hard against legitimizing the appropriation 
of church property, whatever the date. Certainly they might 
claim that their contention was itself proof that they had never 
abandoned claim to property not yet secularized when argument 
took place in 1555. On the other hand, the Protestant princes 
urged the necessity of providing for the spiritual needs of their 
subjects, according to the peace, and claimed that it was only 
furthering this end when they appropriated church lands within 
their territories. 

'On the face of it there is force in the argument that a man 
forfeits the advantages of a faith when he abjures that faith. 
These spiritual princes were of course Catholics administering 
Catholic property. There would naturally be question about 
the fairness of an arrangement which allowed a man to for- 
swear Catholicism and still enjoy the power secured him by 
Catholicism alone. Protestant answer was this : The purpose 
of the reservation was not to preserve Catholic possessions as 
Catholic, but to guard against division between the head of a 
spiritual principality and the Chapter which elected him. When 
the Chapter is Protestant it is proper enough for the head to be 
Protestant too, for then division is not occasioned. Indeed, 
only by such change of head could division be avoided in such 
cases. 



1 68 THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 

*It would be untrue to say that only Lutherans enjoyed ben- 
efit of Peace of Augsburg. Other Protestants, especially Cal- 
vinists, were tacitly recognized on the strength of presumed 
kinship with lyutherans. Of Protestants, however, only Luth- 
erans had real standing before the law. 



SEC. 5. VERGING UPON CONFLICT. 

Faith, politics, and property were at stake. The sit- 
uation grew worse rather than better, the difhculty ag- 
gravated every year.^ Several incidents will show how. 
I. The affair at Donaii worth. A monaster}^, constitut- 
ing the only Catholic element in the city, defiant alike 
of prudence and decent manners, sent out a procession 
which naturally roused the populace, and some of the 
participants were roughly handled. The Imperial 
Council,"^ without due form of trial, put the city to the 
ban of the empire. Donauworth lost its rights of a free 
city, was turned over to Catholic worship, and was 
made a municipality of Bav^aria.'^ 2. The Protestant 
Union. The flagrant aggression of Donauworth fright- 
ened the Protestant leaders into momentary agreement. 
Lutherans and Calvinists united for self-defense under 
the nominal leadership of Frederic IV of the Palatinate, 
though the leading spirit really was Christian of Anhalt. 
The tinion was narrower than its name, comprising in 
the main only the princes and towns of southern Ger- 
many. 3. The Catholic League. Regarding the union 
as a challenge, a considerable number of ecclesiastical 
princes^ combined, with Duke Maximilian of Bavaria at 
their head. 4. The contest for Cleve." Duke William 
thought he had settled all clearly in his will,' but a 
host of inheritors appeared, among whom strongest 
claimants were the Elector of Brandenburg and the son 
of the Duke of Neuberg. Defending the property 



THE THIRTY YKARS' WAR. 169 

jointly as against the emperor, they angrily disagreed 
as to possession as between themselves.® Finally young 
Neuberg turned Catholic and appealed to the Iveague. 
Brandenburg passed from Lutheranism to Calvinism and 
threw himself actively into the work of the Union. War 
did not resuh, as was expected, but the incident was not 
forgotten. 

^ Of course each side thought it had the real grievance. Cath- 
ohc could point to Protestant disagreement, selfishness, and 
aggression, and with Diet and emperor back of him feel justi 
fied in counting the Protestant wholly a heretic and more than 
half a rebel. The strict letter of the law, too, was on his side. 
Protestant could appeal to logic of progress and could charge 
open violation of law in such cases as Donauworth. Doubtless 
both were partly right. Unquestionably both were partly wrong. 

^ Composed of nominees of the emperor and acting by direct 
authority of the emperor. The case belonged to the Imperial 
Court, but this was out of order, because of the very disputes it 
was organized to settle. 

' Maximilian of Bavaria executed the decree of the Imperial 
Council putting the city to the ban. 

*The Protestant cause was weak in having no strong German 
leader. It could count Electors Palatinate, Saxony, and Bran- 
denburg among its adherents. But of these the caliber of l^ran- 
denburg is shown by the contest for Cleve, Saxony was a man 
of fine resolutions and persistent incapacity. Palatine was a con- 
firmed drunkard, Christian of Anhalt was a politician. Fred- 
eric V, the new Elector Palatine, had ambition, territory, in- 
fluential family connection, orthodoxy, all qualifications for 
leadership save one — he had no sense. 

5 The three ecclesiastical electors, Mainz, Treves, and Cologne, 
and five bishops, Augsburg, Passau, Regensburg, Salzburg, 
Wiirzburg. The League was united and effective, as the Union 
never dreamed of being. 

«The duchy consisted of Cleve proper, Jiilich, Berg, Ravens- 
berg, Mark, and many other possessions, "a multifarious agglom- 
erate of many little countries, gathered by marriage, heritage, 
and luck, in the course of centuries." 
24- 



lyo THE THIRTY years' WAR. 

^ Oil failure of heirs through his son, the inheritance was to 
go to eldest daughter and her heirs, male or female ; these fail- 
ing, to the second daughter. Elector Brandenburg claimed for 
his wife the daughter of this eldest daughter. Prince Neuberg 
was son of the second daughter. The law clearly favored Bran- 
denburg. Custom favored Neuberg. 

^ Settlement was proposed by Ne uberg on basis of partition, 
then on basis of marriage with daughter of Elector, both which 
bases were rejected by the Elector, the latter, if the chronicles 
may be trusted, with some warmth. Only in 1666 was the con- 
test settled, by partition, Cleve, Mark, and Ravensberg going to 
Brandenburg, Jiilich and some lesser territory to Neuberg. 



SEC. 6. BOHEMIAN REVOLUTION. 

At this point Protestantism might have been crushed 
by a bold, strong emperor. As it happened, the emperor 
was neither bold nor strong, and he had trotibles of 
his own. Weak, incapable, superstitious, Rudolph II 
studied the stars and made astrological tables while the 
Turks were annihilating his armies. His brother Ma- 
thias, fearing lest this foolishness should destroy the 
family, forced Rudolph to make over to him at once the 
crowns of Austria, Hungary, and Moravia, and the suc- 
cession to the crown of Bohemia. By the transfer Prot- 
estants greatly profited, getting freedom of worship in 
Austria from Mathias; in Bohemia, from Rudolph, free- 
dom of conscience for all,' freedom of worship for many,"'^ 
this confirmed by royal charter. Presently Rudolph 
lost the crown of Bohemia, as he had lost the others, to 
Mathias. The Bohemians soon found that they had 
joyed ov^ermuch. Mathias evaded'' the royal charter, 
and just as the nobles were counseling patience to one 
another becatise the throne must soon fall vacant by 
death and they cotild then elect a Protestant king, 
Mathias summoned the Bohemian Diet and forced the 



THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 171 

estates to recognize Ferdinand of Styria, an uncompro- 
mising Catholic, as their hereditary king/ Increasing 
disadvantages compelled the Protestant estates to hold 
a diet, at which a petition to Mathias was prepared. 
Mathias declared both meeting and petition illegal.^ 
Pressed further, they pleaded the royal charter. When 
this proved unavailing, a company, headed by Count 
Thurn, made their way to the royal castle in Prague, 
where they found several members of the Council of 
Regency left in charge during king's absence in Vienna. 
Reviving a bit of ancient Bohemian pleasantry, they 
threw two of these, who were especially obnoxious, and 
the secretary out of the window.*^ A provisional gov- 
ernment was constituted, the Jesuits were expelled, and 
defense was organized against Ferdinand and Mathias. 
Within a 3^ear Frederick V, Elector Palatine, was elected 
king. 

^ As long as they kept to certain recognized creeds— Hussite, 
lyutlieran, CathoHc. 

■^Authority to build churches was given only to the three higher 
estates — nobles, knights, and royal cities, about 1,400 persons 
and less than 50 towns. On royal domains worship, as well as 
conscience, was to be free. 

•■* On one point debate was fairly allowable. Were ecclesiastical 
lands crown lands ? The Protestants argued that they were, and 
built a church on the lands of the Abbot of Branau, and one on 
the lands of the Archbishop of Prague, at Klostergrab. The 
Catholics denied the Protestant claim. Abbot and Archbishop 
protesting against the building of the churches. The Catholic 
position was sustained by Mathias. On domains unquestionably 
royal, however, Mathias followed a course simply indefensible. 
He placed Catholic priests in charge of Protestant churches, and 
winked at measures compelling Protestant attendance at Cath- 
olic worship. Most serious of all was denial of legitimacy of 
action of defensors. These were permanent officers of Protestant 
estates, recognized by the royal charter, appointed for the ex- 
press purpose of seeing that the charter was observed. 



172 THE THIRTY years' WAR. 

*The pity is that Bohemia did not vindicate her rights then, 
for then her claims were made on solid ground. Apparently 
members of the Diet were afraid to resist. There was danger, 
no doubt, for court officials whispered in the ear of several that 
in case of resistance it would be found an excellent thing to 
have two heads on their shoulders, as a second one would cer- 
tainly be needed. Still, what proved a forlorn hope in 1618 
would have been an easy possibility in 1617. 

^ By terms of charter itself, wrong as to both. 

^ By the " ancient custom of Bohemia " a form of capital pun- 
ishment. It saved blood stains on the floor and gave much 
amusement to onlookers. Many of the company wanted to kill 
Martinitz and Slawata outright. The defenstration was a com- 
promise. The doomed men fell far, between sixty and eighty 
feet, but were saved serious injury, as their fall was broken by 
a great heap of refuse in the fosse below. 

SEC. 7. JUDGMENT UPON BOHEMIA AND FREDERICK. 

The election of Frederick promised strength to Bo- 
hemia, but brought weakness. The right of a people 
to dispose of its crown found scant recognition. Sup- 
port was expected from the Elector of Saxony. His 
only reply was that as a Protestant he sympathized with 
them, but that as a ruler he regarded rebellion as a 
serious matter.^ More yet was hoped from James I 
of England, Frederick's father-in-law.'' James said 
squarely that he would have nothing to do with en- 
croachment upon the rights of others, meaning the rights 
of Ferdinand, not of Bohemia. When all was sunnned 
up, about all the encouragement Frederick had was 
sympathy and prayer,^ while the deposed Ferdinand 
had the solid backing of the Pope, the League, Tuscany, 
Poland, and Spain. The new king was incompetent in 
the court and in the field. His best generals were ad- 
venturers.* Thanks to aid of Moravia, Silesia, Austria, 
and Hungary, Frederick forces back the Imperial army. 



THE THIRTY years' WAR. 1 73 

This early success, however, was all that ever came to 
him. His anii}^, undisciplined, unpaid, and unled, was 
no match for Ferdinand's forces under the veterans Tilly 
and Bucquoi; The battle of White Mountain,^ 1620, 
sealed the fate of Bohemia's experiment in self-govern- 
ment. The charter was annulled, and every vestige of 
independence declared void. The leaders of the revolu- 
tion were executed. The great estates were confiscated. 
The Prostestant population was either exiled or beg- 
gared.'' The Palatinate fared little better. Tilly over- 
run its territories with Imperial and Spanish troops, 
breaking down all resistance. The Diet of Regensburg, 
1623, sanctioned the emperor's decree of two years 
before, declaring Frederick's lands and dignity forfeited. 
Spain took the lyOwer Palatinate. The Upper and the 
electorate went to Maximilian of Bavaria.^ 

^ Moreover, he was afraid that Frederick's domains, already 
great, if supplemented by Bohemia, would overshadow Saxony. 
Besides, whoever heard of two electoral votes in one hand ! 

2 The English people were urgent to aid Frederick, both on 
account of his religion and on account of his wife. James, 
however, hoped for a family alliance with Spain, and was unwill- 
ing to hurt the feelings of any member of the Spanish family. 
Very likely he was sincere, too, in his insistence that Frederick 
had no business to meddle in the affairs of the Bohemians. 

^The Duke of Savoy was at first favorable to the revolution, 
apparently through hope that it might make him kin^. After 
the election of Frederick he supported Ferdinand. France was 
willing to mediate, but at first not willing to oppose the emperor. 
Silesia and Lasatia did something ; Sweden and Denmark at first 
nothing. 

*The Count of Mansfield was a fair example. Another was 
Christian of Anhalt, who from the first cherished revolutionary 
designs against the empire, caring for Bohemia chiefly as a 
means thereto. Still another was Christian of Brunswick, best 
known for his devotion to his kinswoman, the Klectress Palatine, 
and for his questionable wit in melting the statues of saints pil- 



174 I'HE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 

laged from churches into coin with the inscription, "Friend of 
God, Enemy of Priests." 

^ Frederick's fighting quality and statesmanship shine equally 
in his conduct at this time. While the battle that staked a 
kingdom was being fought and lost he was entertaining two 
English ambassadors at dinner. Still the Bohemian aristocracy 
were not the best material in the world for nation-building. It 
is said that once when Frederick called them to an early meeting 
of the council, they objected that it was against their privileges 
to get up so early. Apparently in Frederick they got a king 
after their own kind. 

*" Forced to demand pardon and despoiled of her privileges, 
Bohemia in terror beheld the punishment of the leaders of the 
insurrection : 27 were beheaded ; 29 escaped the same fate only 
by flight ; 928 lords were deprived of their property ; 38,000 
families departed from the country, where the Reformation was 
proscribed." 

'The character of this sentence roused men indifferent 
hitherto. Severe punishment to Frederick for ill-advised action 
did not greatly matter. It did greatly matter, though, that 
Protestant Palatinate should be distnembered, both parts falling 
into Catholic hands. 



SEC. 8. DANISH INTERVENTION. 

So Elector Frederick's misfortunes were more effect- 
ive than his efforts had been. Even John George of 
Saxony stirred uneasily. Other Protestant princes were 
thoroughly alarmed. If the emperor might strip Fred- 
erick, what hindered his profiting by this example in pro- 
cess against others ? Empire and Diet were in the hand 
of the church.^ Already agreement of Miihlhausen "^ 
was discounted by Catholic leaders. Not Frederick, 
not the Palatinate, but Protestantism, spiritual and po- 
litical, was at stake. The union, always weak, latterly 
useless altogether, had dissolved in 1621. Whatever 
was done must be done at individual initiative. But 
whose? Answer came by Christian IV of Denmark, 



THE THIRTY years' WAR. 175 

who as Duke of Holstein found his interests threatened 
in the lower Saxon circle/^ Subsidized by France and 
verbally encouraged by England and Holland, Christian 
moved down to aid of Mansfield and Christian of An- 
halt. Strong in Tilly, stronger still in Wallenstein,' the 
Imperial cause everywhere prospered against Danish 
effort. Mansfield was defeated at Dessau and soon after 
died." Christian of Anhalt died. Christian of Den- 
mark was beaten by Tilly at gutter, while Wallenstein 
moved against the Hanseatic'' towns, succeeding there 
only to be thwarted by heroic resistance of little Stral- 
sund.^ The Danish phase of the war ended in the 
Peace of lyiibeck, 1629, by which Christian promised 
to withdraw from the contest altogether. 

' What chance had real patriotism or real national spirit in 
such a struf(j^le ! The institutions of the empire, the empire it- 
self, were in the hands of mere partisans. 

' A compromise intended chiefly to quiet John George of Sax- 
ony. By it the League promised not forcibly to recover the sec- 
ularized church lands as long as the present holders were loyal 
to the empire. 

•'' Christian had ambitions around the North Sea. Between 
Hamburg and the ocean he had built Gliickstadt, hoping to in- 
tercept Hamburg's commerce. He already controlled the Bish- 
opric of Verden and the succession to the Bishopric of Bremen. 
There was thus good reason why he should oppose the reconver- 
sion of secularized estates, and why, too, he should be forward in 
German affairs, lest a German national spirit should be awakened 
and endanger his holdings on the German coast. 

* One of the most striking figures of the war. But for him 
Emperor Ferdinand might have fared hard at hands of Christian. 
Another army than Tilly's the emperor must have, but his treas- 
ury was empty. Just then Wallenstein came forward, offering 
to raise and maintain an army at his own charges. Of Bohemian 
stock, of IvUtheran parentage, Wallenstein early turned Cath- 
olic, as far as he had any religion, and sought a soldier's fortune 
at the court of Ferdinand. Marriage with a rich widow bettered 



176 'THK THIRTY years' WAR. 

his condition. When Bohemia was punished for rebellion, Wal- 
lenstein bought up many of the confiscated estates, becoming 
the largest landholder in Bohemia. He raised an army of 20,000 
men, a number soon greatly increased. Their support he pro- 
posed to raise from the country where they were employed. 

^ Judge Mansfield as we may as a mere knight-errant, we can- 
not help admiring him. His death was of a piece with his life. 
After Dessau, driven out of Hungary by a truce made between 
Wallenstein and Bethlen Gabor, he was on the way to Venice 
when he found that death was near. He would not die in bed. 
" Raise me np," he said to those about him, "I am dying now." 
" Propped up in an upright position in their arms and gazing 
out upon the dawn, which was lighting up the hills with the first 
rays of morning, he passed away." His last words were, " Be 
united, united, hold out like men." 

*The maritime cities of the old commercial league of North 
Germau}'^, 1241, once comprising no less than 85 cities. Liibeck 
was chief center, after which must l)e counted Cologne, Bruns- 
wick, Dantzic. 

■'On the Baltic, nominally subject to Pomerania, practically 
free. Wallenstein commanded the citizens to admit a garrison 
of his troops. On their refusal he invested the city. Wallen- 
stein felt that his honor was at stake and pressed the siege. "I 
will take the town," said he, " though it were fastened by chains 
to God's own throne." Open on the harbor side to succor, the 
Stralsunders held out, and, despite his boast, Wallenstein had 
to withdraw after heavy loss. 



SEC. 9. IMPOI.ICY OF FERDINAND. 

The Protestants had no monopoly of foolishness. 
Flushed with success, the emperor issued the Edict of 
Restitution, 1629. All lands and endowments secular- 
ized since Passau were to be restored to Catholic pos- 
session, and freedom of religion was to be limited ac- 
cording to the letter of the Peace of Augsburg. ' * The 
logic of events to the winds ! ' ' said Ferdinand. * * Bend 
or break. ' ' The enforcement of the edict was entrusted 



THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 177 

to Wallenstein, now master of North Germany,' at the 
head of 100,000 men. Not only did hardship' follow- 
but injustice,' and the forcible conversion or expatri, 
ation of whole populations. The emperor went farther. 
Urged thereto by Wallenstein* and emboldened by 
sweeping success of the latter, he assumed air of abso- 
lutism. Without waiting for Diet, he raised money by 
imperial authority, banned Dukes of Mecklenburg,' as 
he had Elector Frederick, without process of law, and, 
ignoring questions of right and original ownership, 
turned over the reconverted church lands to whomso- 
ever he would. ^ To crown all, at demand of League 
and Maximilian of Bavaria, with Richelieu silently but 
potently in background, he dism'issed Wallenstein,^ by 
whom alone his pretensions could be made good. 

^ Before entering upon this war Wallenstein had been Duke of 
Friedland. Now, in addition, he was Duke of Mecklenburg, 
against dispossessed dukes, and admiral of the Baltic. 

2 By a stroke of the pen two archbishoprics— Magdeburg and 
Bremen; twelve bishoprics — Minden, Verden, Halberstadt, 
LiibeckjRatzburg, Misnia, Merseburg, Naumburg, Brandenburg 
Havel berg, Lebus, and Camin, with over a hundred smaller 
foundations, were restored to the Catholics. 

^No regard was paid to the character of the population. In 
Nordlingen the commissioners of restitution could liot find a 
single Catholic. None the less they marked every church in 
the place for redelivery. In many places not only did Protest- 
ants see their churches wrested from them, but they were 
themselves compelled to attend the Catholic services at once 
established. 

* Wallenstein was not wholly unselfish in his advice to the 
emperor. He wanted the emperor to become absolute by break- 
ing the old nobility that there might be a new nobility in its 
place, composed mainly of Wallenstein. 

^ Protestants were alarmed at this high-handed proceeding, 
for the dukes had sinned no worse than had most of the Ger- 
man princes. Kach feared that his turn might come next. For 

25 



178 THK THIRTY YKARS' WAR. 

once Protestant and Catholic were at one, the latter crying out 
against the injustice not less than the former. 

^ Giving his own sou four bishoprics. The Jesuits, however, 
got most. 

■^ Wallenstein had antagonized the League. They thought 
chiefly of crushing Protestantism ; he only of punishing disloy- 
alty^ They wanted him to quarter his troops only on Protestant 
territory ; he said that all must 'help. They had definite no- 
tions of what should be done with confiscated estates ; so had 
he, but they were quite different. The nobles distrusted him, 
the League disagreed with him, the Protestants hated him. To- 
gether they raised opposition to him which the emperor could 
not withstand. 



SEC. 10. SV^EDISH INTERVENTION. 

The finest character of the age, one of the few finest 
of all ages, now came upon the scene. Gustavns 
Adolphns, clear-eyed, able, devout, undertook the war 
for the .sake of Sweden, Germany, and his faith. For 
the first he desired dominion of the Baltic ; for the 
second, the possibilities of national life ; for the third, 
right to live. His corpus evajigelicorum was to be a con- 
federation of the Baltic ; if need be, a Protestant em- 
pire. The campaign was carefully planned. Gustavus 
must have absolute militar}^ command. Aid from France 
he gladly welcomed/ but an impossible alliance with 
Catholic Louis he did not encourage. Hampered at the 
outset by vacillation of German chiefs,'^ he waited until 
the fall of Magdeburg ^ brought them to their senses 
and to his terms. Then he showed what genius in the 
commander and fighting quality in the soldier can effect 
for Protestant as well as for Catholic endeavor. At 
Breitenfeld,* near Leipsic, 1631, he dug the grave of 
the Edict of Restitution. Organizing the Protestant 
forces, he swept down into the Rhine country to break 



THK THIRTY YKARS' WAR. 1 79 

Up the heritage of Wallenstein's system, through the 
Priests' Lane^ to Nuremberg, to ill-starred Donau- 
worth,^ across the Lech, where Tilly disputed his pas- 
sage, only to meet death, through Bavaria. The em- 
peror in despair reinstated Wallenstein on his own 
terms. ^ At Liitzen, 1632, Gustavus defeated Wallen- 
stein at cost of his own life,^ a loss which a hundred 
victories could not make good. Oxenstierna, the great 
Swedish chancellor, did much, nearl}^ matching Rich- 
elieu in astuteness, and Swedish troops fought until the 
end of the war, but real Swedish leadership ended when 
Gustavus Adolphus fell. 

^Treaty of Barwald, 1631, estabUshed good understanding 
between Sweden and France on several points : " The defense 
of the cotnmon friends of the two nionarchs ; estabUshing the 
security of the ocean and the Baltic and the Hberty of commerce ; 
protecting the injured states of the empire ; procuring the denio- 
Htion of certain forts on the coast and in the Grisons." Sub- 
sidies were involved, France paying a Uimp sum of 300,000 francs 
for expenses up to date, and i ,200,000 francs yearly for five years, 
in return for which Gustavus was to maintain and direct an 
army of 30,000 foot and 6,000 horse. 

'■^ Bogaslav of Pomerania begged the privilege of remaining 
neutral, Gustavus knew that neutrality was an idle word, and 
the aged duke yielded. Elector George William of Branden- 
burg, Gustavus' own brother-in-law, refused to join him until 
threatened by force. Elector John George of Saxony was obsti- 
nate until Tilly summoned him to disarm or be treated as rebel. 
Then indignantly he threw himself without condition into alli- 
ance with Sweden. William of Hesse-Cassel was first German 
prince voluntarily to join Gustavus, followed speedily by Bern- 
hard of Saxe- Weimar. 

Stupid as was the vacillation of the princes who should have 
welcomed Gustavus, our impatience must not blind us to the 
hardness of their choice. On the one hand was a foreign in- 
vader, who had come to save the religion of Germany. On the 
other was the emperor, seeking to destroy that religion, but to 



l80 THE THIRTY YEARS WAR. 

whom they, as Germans and princes of the empire, owed allegi- 
ance. Religious liberty and political unity were in conflict. 

^ Might have been saved. Gustavus could reach the beleagured 
city either across Saxony or across Brandenburg. Passage either 
way was denied. The fate of the city was awful. Maddened by 
resistance, the troops spared neither age nor sex. " Daughters 
and wives were violated in the arms of their fathers and hus- 
bands. The Croats amused themselves with throwing infants 
into the flames ; Pappenheim's Walloons with stabbing infants at 
the mother's breast." The streets ran blood. The horrors of 
fire were added. In twelve hours the city, one of the finest in 
Germany, was in ashes. The number of slain was not less than 
thirty thousand. 

*In spite of flight of Saxon allies, Gustavus swept Tilly from 
the field. The Swedes exhibited a new style of fighting, mobility 
under discipline as against mass. The effect of the victory in 
bracing Protestant hope was indescribable. 

^Composed of long line of ecclesiastical territories— Wiirz- 
burg, Bamberg, Fulda, Cologne, Treves, Mainz, Worms, Spires. 
^ Since 1607 suffering the penalty of that disturbed procession 
of monks. 

^ Absolute authority over the army, to start with, declaring 
that he would not share the command with God himself; em- 
peror and son were never to enter camp ; nomination of all 
officers ; distribution of rewards and penalties ; pardon or safe- 
conduct even of emperor to be valid only with his confirmation ; 
contributions to be levied as he pleased ; confiscated property 
to be at his disposal ; peace or truce to be made only in consulta- 
tion with him ; supplies to be provided on his estimates ; re- 
muneration for his expenses with guarantees at once in hand. 
Verily it was better to be Wallenstein than to be Hol}^ Roman 
Emperor ! 

^ Rapidity of movement carried him away from his followers 
and into the enemy, concealed by fog. Bernhard of Saxe- 
Weimar assumed command, and finished victory through resist- 
less onslaught of Swedish army, burning to rescue, then to 
avenge, their lost leader. 



THE THIRTY YKARS' WAR. i8l 



SEC. II. FRENCH INTERVENTION. 

Before Liitzen the Thirty Years' War was predom- 
inantly religions. After Liitzen it was predominantly 
political. Swedish and German names appear in the 
lists of generals, battles, and treaties — Oxenstierna, 
Baner, Torstenson, Wrangel, Bernhard — but French 
names ^ also find place — Turenne, Enghien, and, master 
spirit, Richelieu. He, France's greatest statesman, 
had single end, the aggrandizement of France.^ To 
this end two things were necessary, the consolidation 
of the kingdom and the humbling of Austria. The first 
he secured through subjugation of aristocracy and over- 
throw of Huguenots; the latter by aiding Austria's 
enemies. When they wearied of strife he roused them 
to new effort. The Treaty of Prague, 1635,^ made pos- 
sible by Nordlingen, 1634,* came to nothing because 
Richelieu persuaded Sweden to reject it. Victories and 
defeats followed through ten bitter years, Swedes, Ger- 
mans, and Frenchmen battering always at Austria, 
Richelieu with wise hand garnering the fruits. More 
and more the original issues were forgotten. The 
emperor still insanely clung to idea of winning 
back Germany to empire and church, and Protestant 
States were fighting for him in a struggle which had 
lost *its theological limits and was now a question of 
mastery between Austria and France. Sweden was 
bent chiefly upon fixing hold on mouths of German 
rivers and on Baltic. At last Wallenstein ^ gone, Fer- 
dinand II gone, Bernhard gone, Richelieu gone, Louis 
XIII gone, in sheer exhaustion and despair the war 
stopped. 



1 82 THE THIRTY YKARS' WAR. 

^ For long French effort seemed everywhere doomed to failure. 
It was in 1635 that France came into the war as a principal. 
Spain imprisoned the Elector of Treves, who was under the pro- 
tection of France. In midst of a thousand other enterprises 
Richelieu had been quietly preparing an army. Now, to the 
amazement of the world, one hundred thirty-two thousand men 
were ready. This host, in four armies, moved out to do won- 
ders. But the wonders did not follow. All four armies were 
driven back broken and dispirited. 1636 was no better. At 
last, drilled into winning shape and ably led, they were able to 
hold their own even alongside the veterans of Sweden. 

•^ This he pursued without regard for God or man. "Long 
possession gives no right in the matter of kingdoms," he de- 
clared, for " princes are bound by no prescription, nor have they 
any tribunal before which to appear : wherefore they may always 
claim their rights from usurpers, and recover them by force." 
Note the claims of France: All Spain, Portugal, Navarre, Naples, 
Milan, Genoa ; the imperial crown, as the successor of Charle- 
magne ; England, on basis of invitation of nobles in 1216 ; the 
natural frontier of the Rhine ; and the rest of the world ! 

^ An unsatisfactory agreement by which the Elector of Saxony, 
always overready to make cover, engaged peace with the em- 
peror, followed by several other princes. It stipulated that the 
Edict of Restitution should be dropped, recognized Catholics 
and Lutherans, specifically excluded Calvinists, continued dis.- 
abilities of Elector Palatine. Sweden did not favor it partly on 
her own motion, partly at instigation of France. 

* As disastrous to Protestants as Breitenfeld had been to Cath- 
olics three years before. Bernhard was chief sinner and chief 
sufferer. 

^Assassinated with connivance, perhaps at instigation, of em- 
peror, who was afraid of him. The dirty work of his death was 
performed in 1634 by foreign mercenaries. 



SEC. 12. PEACE OF WESTPHALIA. 

It took five years of negotiation, as well as thirty 
years of war, to prepare this treaty. At last Mtinster 
and Osnabriick agreed,^ and the first of many European 



THE Thirty ykars* war. ig^ 

conventions^ was concluded. The terms of the peace 
provided as follows : i. Catholics, I^utherans, and Cal- 
vinists were placed on the same footing. 2. Secularized 
church lands were to remain in Protestant hands, as in 
1624, everywhere outside the Palatinate, where the de- 
finitive year was to be 1618.^^ 3. The principle of citjus 
regio ejus religio was reaffirmed, though with important 
lessening of hardship in its application.'' 4. Decrees of 
the Diet in specified cases were no longer to carry by 
sheer weight of numbers, but by due regard for the 
interests involved.^ Commissions were to be made up 
with reference to the object under investigation— Prot- 
estant members for Protestant questions, Catholic mem- 
bers for Catholic questions, mixed commissions for 
mixed questions. 5. Switzerland and the Netherlands 
were formally declared independent of the empire. 
6. The Upper Palatinate, with the electoral vote already 
associated with it, was confirmed to the Duke of Ba- 
varia. 7. The Ivower Palatinate, for which an electoral 
vote was created, was restored to the family of deposed 
elector, Frederick V. 8. Several German principalities 
were enlarged or reorganized, mainly by appropriation 
of secularized church estates.^ 9. France acquired 
valuable territory, made doubly valuable because it con- 
tained many keys of power.' 10. Sweden received 
large money and coveted possessions around the Baltic 
and the North Sea." 11. Princes of the empire were 
given virtual sovereignty.'' 12. France and Sweden 
were named as guarantors, getting thereby dangerous | 

right to interfere in German affairs. * 

* To avoid troublesome questions of precedence, two places of 
meeting were chosen, Miinster and Osnabruck, both in West- 
phaHa, and near enough to each other to make communication 
easy. Minister was, in general, the Catholic meeting place, 



t84 i'hr thirty ykars' war. 

Osnabriick the Protestant. Action of either had to be passed 
upon by the other. This of itself made progress slow. Incom- 
parably worse was haggling over trifles touching the titles of 
representatives. For nearly five long years debate dragged on, 
while foreign armies harried Germany. 

^ Andrews says : "The Westphalia Congress was the file-leader 
of all the subsequent European congresses. Nothing really like 
it had ever occurred before since the Amphictyonic Council. It 
introduced into Europe the general political system which still 
prevails. With it,- too, the present great body of positive inter- 
national law began its growth. Grotius had published in 1622, 
and the congress, as it were, enacted his book into an interna- 
tional statute. From this congress, further, date stated diplo- 
matic relations, legations, embassies, etc., between governments. 
It is a massive ganglion in the nerve system of history." 

^ The earlier date due to civil and ecclesiastical overturn by 
Imperialists and Spaniards. The Margraviate of Baden and the 
Duchy of Wiirtemburg were virtually in the same condition as 
the Palatinate. 

*For instance, if in the definitive year Protestant subjects of 
Catholic princes, or vice versa, enjoyed freedom of religion, that 
right was not to be abridged afterward. Lutheran turning Cal- 
vinist, or the reverse, could not compel subjects to follow. In 
addition, considerably large toleration was provided for con- 
science and private devotions where public worship remained 
under will of prince. 

= " I. In all causes of religion. 2. In all other affairs where 
the states could not be considered a single body. 3. In all cases 
in which Catholics and Protestants should divide into two 
parties." 

^ For example, Brandenburg was indemnified for loss of Pome- 
rania, which went to Sweden, by Bishopric of Magdeburg, now 
made a duchy, and the Bishoprics of Halberstadt, Minden, and 
Camin, made secular principalities, each of the four carrying a 
vote in the Diet. 

^Bishoprics of Metz, Toul and Verdun, Moyenvic, Pignerol, 
garrison right in Philipsbnrg, Breisach, Sundgau, and Alsace, 
with its ten imperial cities. 

** Five million thalers ; Hither Pomerania ; Isle of Riigen ; 
parts of Further Pomerania— Stettin, Gartz, Damme, Golnau, 



THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 1 85 

Wallin, Peine, Schweine, and Divenau ; Wismar in Mecklen- 
burg ; Archbishopric of Bremen, converted into a duchy ; Bish- 
opric of Bremen, converted into a principality. 

^ All but the worthless saving clause, *' providing no prejudice 
should come thereby to the empire or the emperor." 



SEC. 13. REAPING THE WHIRI^WIND. 

It was an awful harvest Germany reaped, but it was 
mainly of her own sowing. Protestant intolerance is 
no more Christian than Catholic intolerance. After as 
well as before the revolt from Rome, conscience had to 
strive for its rights. The curse of individualism lived 
on,' doubly baneful now that the empire had been riven 
asunder. Yet who shall blame Germany, as if she alone 
had failed to find the secret to which the whole world 
was still a stranger ? No one had yet arisen to explain 
how to reconcile religious libert}^ and political unity. 
The pettifoggery of Miinster and Osnabriick issued in 
a compromise in which a glimpse of the truth was given, 
never afterward to be wholly lost. Over against the em- 
pire stood the strong national life of Protestant Sweden 
and the stronger national life of Catholic France. Better 
types still were on the way. Compromises are neither 
generous nor final. Each gives part to save part. Each 
hopes to bring the other to his will that ultimately he 
may have all. Out of immeasurable bitterness of strife 
in which no one could win, emperor and king and Cath- 
olic and Protestant were forced by sheer weariness to 
conclude that prince and subject may subscribe different 
creeds and be loyal to each other still. This precious 
truth, self-evident now, has been seen more clearly ever 
since 1648. About the only really gladdening thing 
in the Peace of Westphalia was that at least a glimpse 
26 



l86 THE THIRTY years' WAR. 

of it was gained then.^ But gained at what cost to Ger- 
many ! Thirty years of blood ;^ as many sovereigns as 
princes of the empire ;* as many courts as sovereigns;^ 
Christians destroying one another for love of Christ ; 
national unity still two centuries away ; true spiritual 
liberty almost as distant. 

^The trouble twofold. Co-religionists divided on immaterial 
differences. Neighboring princes were too jealous to combine. 
The most noted figures of the war were all outsiders. Tilly was 
a Walloon ; Wallenstein a Bohemian ; Richelieu and Turenne 
Frenchmen ; Gustavus, Oxenstierna, and Torstenson Swedes. 
Non-Germans had to do the organizing throughout. 

2 " To all parties alike the result of the Thirty Years' War was 
thoroughl}'^ unsatisfactory : to the Protestants, who had lost Bo- 
hemia, and still were obliged to hold an inferior place in the 
electoral college and in the Diet : to the Catholics, who were 
forced to permit the exercise of heretical worship, and leave the 
church lands in the grasp of sacrilegious spoilers : to the princes, 
who could not throw off the burden of imperial supremacy : to 
the emperor, who could turn that supremacy to no practical 
account. No other conclusion was possible to a contest in which 
every one had been vanquished and no one victorious ; which 
had ceased because while the reasons for war continued the 
means of war had failed." 

^The heart sickens over the record of those days. The popu- 
lation of Germany fell from 30,000,000 to 12,000,000. Scores of 
flourishing cities were left blackened heaps of ruin. Literature, 
science, art, ceased to be thought of. Society was largely broken 
up. Incredible tortures were inflicted by pillaging troops, who 
must get their living from the laud. " The three master sins of 
our fallen nature — hate, lust, and covetousness — were rampant 
to the full." 

*Over 300 in all, constituting a loose confederation. " For it 
(the empire) had no common treasury, no efficient common 
tribunals, no means of coercing a refractory member ; its states 
were of different religions, were governed according to different 
forms, were administered judicially and financially without any 
regard to each other. The traveler in Central Germany used. 



THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 1 87 

up till t866, to be amused to find, every hour or two, by the 
change in the soldiers' uniforms, and in the color of the stripes 
on the railway fences, that he had passed out of one and into 
another of its miniature kingdoms. Much more surprised and 
embarrassed would he have been a century ago, when, instead of 
the present twenty-nine, there were three hundred petty princi- 
palities between the Alps and the Baltic, each with its own laws, 
its own court, its little arm}-, its separate coinage, its tolls and 
custom-houses on the frontier, its crowd of meddlesome and 
pedantic officials, presided over by a prime minister who was 
generally the unworthy favorite of his prince and the pensioner 
of some foreign court." It is only fair to say, however, that 
the Peace of Westphalia did not create this condition of things. 
The condition itself had long been forming, and the Peace 
simply legalized it. 

^ Now that France w'as in the ascendant, every princeling pat- 
terned after the manners of Versailles. Many of them were in 
the pay of France, which was said to have a regular tariff of 
German consciences. 



SEC. 14. TO THE VICTORS THE SPOILS. 

Germany furnished the pretext and the battlefield. 
The real gainers by the war were Sweden and France. 
Had Gustavus outlived Liitzen he might have given 
Protestant Germany order and strength. But Gustavus 
fell at Liitzen. One statesman he left and many gen- 
erals, but all together were far short of being equivalent to 
himself. Swedish intervention brought great reward to 
Sweden, though she profited little by it, and in half a 
century would cease to be reckoned among the impor- 
tant factors of European politics.^ France fared better 
still. Hatred of the Hapsburg line and jealousy of all 
power rivaling that of France made Richelieu and then 
Mazarin swing French influence in aid of Germany's 
struggle. Austria, humbled and impoverished, yielded 
the leadership of Europe to France. Here, as in Sweden, 



1 88 THK THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 

ambition at last overleaped itself.^ But that was far 
away. Thanks largely to the Thirty Years' War, 
France moved into the great days of Louis XIV, the 
arbiter of Europe. 

^ lyavisse calls attention to the unpractical element in Swedish 
enterprise. " There was always something chimerical and ad- 
venturous, after the Norman fashion, in Swedish ambition. 
Sweden attempted to dominate Germany, to arrest the progress 
of Russia, to make the Baltic a Swedish lake ; her king wished 
to become king of Poland. This was going too far, and Charles 
XII (1697-1718) lost his army on the steppes of Russia." 
. '^ The time came when Louis XIV could say, with truth as 
well as with pride, I am the state. Huguenots crushed and 
aristocracy broken to royal will, France tasted the sweets of 
absolute monarchy. Then lust of conquest took possession of 
Louis and he played the bully toward half Europe, exhausting 
his kingdom, preparing a legacy of hate at home and abroad 
for his successors, and building long stretches of that fatal road 
over which French royalty would one day ride to the Revolu- 
tion — and the guillotine. 



CHAPTER X. 



Modern France. 



SEC. I. THE INTERVENING CENTURY. 

The history of France to the close of the i.sth century 
was ontHned in discussion of the growth of the central 
power. ' Thanks to unbroken descent from Hugh Capet, 
in a line of kings of whom at least half were strong 
men,^ and of whom more than half had contributed 
something to the building of France, Charles VIII 
found himself head of a real monarchy,^ evolved from 
a feudal league, with about the limits of France as now 
constituted. Charles VIII was at once ambitious,* ro- 
mantic, weak, and unsuccessful. Louis XII was not 
ambitious ^ or romantic, but the rest of the description 
fits him, too. Greatly to his credit, however, he loved 
his people and they enjoj^ed much material prosperity 
under him. Francis I had the tastes, but fortunately 
not the force, of a despot. He wasted the substance of 
the kingdom in a foreign policy as ill advised as that 
of his two predecessors ; at home he had no time for 
business of state, on account qf the constant pressure 
upon him of the demands of pleasure. Men call Francis 
brilliant. Very likely ; but all France had to show for 
his brilliancy was oppression, arbitrariness, corruption, 
27 (189) 



igo MODERN FRANCE. 

faithlessness, and failure. Four reigns'' in succession 
thereafter were taken up with civil war. The war 
lasted in fact over the reign of Henr}^ IV and half way 
through that of Louis XIII. But under Henr}^ IV it 
was in a way to be ended. Therefore we speak of four 
reigns as filled with it. Protestantism never touched 
the French heart. Its main hold was among the no- 
bility. Here unfortunately it was as much a matter 
of politics as of faith, involving all the danger of polit- 
ical, all the bitterness of religious, conflict. Intrigue, 
treachery, bloodshed filled the dreary years, which grew 
all the darker for the lurid light of St. Bartholomew. 
The struggle falls into three periods: i. A religious, 
1 562-1 570. The lines are now drawn straight between 
Catholic and Huguenot, the latter relying much on for- 
eign aid. 2. A transition, 1570-1573. Here fall the 
dark days of St. Bartholomew. 3. A political, 1573- 
1598. Fought out between the Catholic League" and 
the Politique'-Huguenot Confederacy. Victory rested 
with the latter, notwithstanding official conversion of 
leader.^ Great single fact of half a centur}^ was Edict 
of Nantes, 1598.'° With rounding of century the dis- 
tracted kingdom settles toward unity once more. 

^ See chapter VI, sections 11, 12. 

2 See chapter VI, section 11, note 3. 

•''Charles' army was made up, not of feudal retainers, but of 
paid troops. It was only half a century before that this had been 
seriously undertaken. " The paid force of Charles VII, 1448, 
was the first standing army in Kurope." Taxes, too, had now 
supplanted feudal aids. 

* Dreamed of a universal French empire, patterned after 
Charlemagne's. Charles overlooked the fact simple, but ini. 
portant, that Charlemagne was no longer there to head the 
enterprise. 



MODERN FRANCE. I9I 

^ What looked like ambition were spasms of effort, into which 
he was goaded by his unscrupulous wife, Anne of Brittany. 

^ Henry II, Francis II, Charles IX, Henry III. 

" A great league of the Catholic noblesse, supported by clergy 
and populace. The idea was not new. Need of such organiza- 
tion had long been felt, though the league was not formed 
until 1576. It was a formidable affair. It styled itself "An 
association of Catholic princes, lords, and gentlemen with a 
view to the restoration and upholding of the sole supremacy of 
the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church." It demanded 
the holding of the States General, the restoration to Provinces 
of realm and Provincial Estates such rights and privileges as 
they had in the days of Clovis, "the first Christian King, 
together with still better and more profitable liberties and 
franchises, if such can be found." It showed its disposition by 
threatening as enemies "all who shall hold aloof, all who re- 
sist, all who fall away." Its oath set the authority of the 
Ivcague above that of the king. It formed foreign alliances. 
The Catholic party could no longer make good its claim to be 
the national party. 

**The,Politiques were the moderate Catholic party, setting the 
interests of France in the first place. Here was F'rance's 
national party. Leaguer and Huguenot were about equally 
partisan. The term Politique was applied to the moderates in 
contempt by the strict Catholics, who charged them with pre- 
ferring civil and temporal interests to religious orthodoxy. 

^ Henry of Navarre was rightful heir to throne. He reigned 
as Henry IV four years, in arms continually against Catholic 
opposition. Then to bring peace to the kingdom, so long and 
so sorely torn by strife, he formally professed himself a Catholic. 
At once he was welcomed by all parties. Within four 3'ears he 
was able to issue the edict by which most his fame lives. 

^"Assured Huguenots rights of worship, opened state offices 
to them, established a Protestant chamber in the Parliament of 
Paris and joint chambers in other local parliaments. In short, 
the Huguenots now had legal recognition. 



192 MODERN FRANCE. 



SEC. 2. TWO MINISTERS OF ROYALTY. 

The untimely death of Henry IV was followed by a 
period of disorder. Not for long had France before en- 
joyed rule at once considerate and strong. A decade of 
weakness and waste ^ justified the fear that not for long 
would France again have such rule. A change for the 
better came in 1623, when Cardinal Richelieu'^ was 
called to the king's aid. He was the man who for 
twenty years shaped the destinies of France and of 
Europe. His policy sought two ends : Royalty must 
be supreme in France, and France must be supreme in 
Europe. But these two ends were one, each in turn 
cause and effect of the other. The programme was 
clearly outlined. The nobles must be humbled, the 
Huguenots crushed ; then the king would be without 
rival in his dominions. The Hapsburg power must be 
broken both in Austria and in Spain ; then France 
would be without rival in Europe. To carry out this 
programme, Richelieu worked night and day. He em- 
ployed all the arts of diplomacy and war. He turned 
the stronghold of La Rochelle into a plowed field. He 
annulled charters, suspended privileges, confiscated 
estates, banished the troublesome, executed the incor- 
rigible. He backed Protestant resistance to the em- 
pire ; himself fought the empire ; was ready to fight 
Sweden if ever danger threatened from that quarter ; 
ready to fight anything that stood in the way of France.^ 
He died in 1642,* leaving Mazarin ^ the heir both of his 
policy and his power. The nobles so sternly repressed 
by Richelieu saw in his death their opportunity, and 
tried to take control of the government pending the ma- 
jority of the child king. Thwarted in this by Mazarin, 



MODKRN FRANCE. 



193 



they broke into the ineffectual revolt of the Fronde. 
After the peace of WestphaHa the Hapsburg power was 
smitten in Spain rather than in wearied Austria. The 
Treaty of the Pyrenees, 1659, gave France substantial 
gain and, more prized, recognition of superiority. Two 
years later Mazarin died, just in time, as the young king 
had decided to harvest the results of four decades of 
ministerial labor,' now ready to be garnered in abso- 
lutism. 

^As fast as possible, the wise building of Henry IV was broken 
down. The queen regent declared against toleration, so that 
the old religious struggle began afresh. Treasure carefully 
gathered for large undertakings w^as squandered on worthless 
favorites. The government did nothing to command respect, 
and soon suffered undisguised contempt. 

■*At this time thirty-nine years old. Sprung of noble family, 
he learned soldiering, a taste for which clung to him till death. 
His family foresaw great possibilities for him in the line of 
church and state life. At twenty-two he was bishop, at thirty- 
seven cardinal. At fifty-eight he was dead, with the proud rec- 
ord of having done more than any other, perhaps not even ex- 
cepting Napoleon, to influence the course of France. 

^ So identified was his life with the development of the king- 
dom that he refused to consider any interest of his own apart 
from national interests. On his death-bed he refused to be 
troubled by the ghosts he had multiplied by assassination, ex- 
ecution, and slaughter of war, saying it was for the State he did 
all. Asked if he forgave his enemies, he, the most hated man 
in Europe, answered, and men shuddered when they heard him 
say it, "that he had never had an enemy, and that he had no 
foes save those of the State." 

* "The results of Richelieu's life, whereon he stands for the 
judgment of posterity, are chiefly these : Abroad though a Car- 
dinal of the Church, he arrested the Catholic reaction, freed 
Northern from Southern Europe, and made toleration possible : 
At home, out of the broken fragments of her liberties and her 
national prosperity he paved the way for the glory of France. 
Those who worship strength and success will admire a man 



194 MODKRN FRANCE. 

who, moving on his high course with resolute step, seems un- 
conscious of human infirmities, of pity or humanity. Yet if 
we count the love of our fellow-men the first quality of a great 
character, or think that land happiest in which the liberties of 
the subject are steadily and surely built up from age to age, 
then we shall condemn the strong man armed, who gave no 
thought to his oppressed and laboring countrymen and made 
constitutional life impossible for France." 

^ An astute Italian who sided with the queen mother, Anne 
of Austria, in her struggle to keep the reins of power during the 
minority of Louis XIV. He was rewarded, foreigner though he 
was, by the confidence, probably also the love, of Anne and by 
the headship of the kingdom till his death. He did not forget 
himself in serving France. His fortune amounted to fifty mil- 
lion dollars in present-day values. His nieces, seven in num- 
ber, were richly dowered by him and placed in brilliant mar- 
riages. At one time the young king was enamoured of one of 
them, and only with difficulty allowed himself to be dissuaded 
from the disastrous alliance by Mazarin himself. 

^Unlike as the}'^ were, Richelieu and Mazarin cannot be sepa- 
rated, Richelieu laid the foundation ; Mazarin reared the super- 
structure. Ivouis XIV occupied the completed edifice. 



SEC. 3. AGE OF LOUIvS XIV. 

The first eighteen years of his reign ^ Louis XIV 
wore the crown, but Mazarin wielded the scepter. This 
division of labor was well for both and well for France. 
The young king matured slowly. Mazarin was the one 
man of his time who thoroughly understood the in- 
tricacies of European diplomacy. Incompetent or in- 
different as to home conditions, in foreign affairs he 
was a consummate master. Fortunately Richelieu had 
settled a domestic policy whose effects were not lost even 
after two decades of neglect. This steadied matters 
within, while Mazarin looked after everything without. 
When he died he left France the unquestioned mistress 



MODERN FRANCE. 



195 



of Europe. His dying advice to the king was to be his 
own prime minister.'^ Louis took the advice, and for 
fifty-four years governed as well as reigned. The duties 
hitherto discharged by the minister were parcelled out 
among secretaries and intendants. A first-class system 
of checks and espionage was developed. And govern- 
ment went on as before. After the first jar of adjust- 
ment it went well. Colbert, made Intendant of Finance, 
changed an enormous deficit into an enormous surplus, 
and though, to the lasting poverty of France, doing 
nothing for agriculture, encouraged manufactures and 
trade.' Literature and art flourished, stimulated by 
royal patronage and awakened national life.' The army 
was reorganized. France was in a blaze of glory. But 
the national life was limited. Everything centered in 
the king. The aristocracy of birth was rivaled by an 
aristocracy of royal favor.' " E'etat c'est moi," said 
the king, and he spoke truth. The courtiers said their 
prayers to him rather than to God. Then the twin 
devils of pride and ambition entered the king's heart. 
In violation of his marriage contract, he demanded the 
crown of Spain. He waged war on England, on the 
Dutch, on the dependencies of the empire." He revoked 
the Edict of Nantes, summoning Protestants back to 
mother church.' He demanded the imperial crown. He 
squandered the wealth of France in vain show.^ Hos- 
tile armies insulted French soil. The people had already 
discovered that a dazzling court life does not keep 
hunger and pain from hurting. Hunger and pain had 
grown steadily keener through three decades ^ It is 
hard to say it, but Frenchmen were glad when Louis XIV 
died. The shout of joy that hailed the news that he 
was gone was the last touch needed for the picture of 



196 MODERN FRANCE. 

the age, in its pitiless contrast of glory and shame, of 
ambition and weakness, of brilliance and hollowness, 
of waste and want, of adulation and contempt. 

^lyouis XIV, 1643-1715. Mazariii died 1661. Louis was then 
twenty-three years old. 

^Mazarin, with what motive no one can say, had offered his 
vast fortune to the king. The king, with advice of the Queen 
Mother, refused it. The dying minister then proposed to leave 
the sovereign a yet more precious legacy. When asked what it 
was he said, " Be your own minister." 

^ There can be no doubt about Colbert's industry and skill. 
Every year was marked by the establishment of some new en- 
terprise — "tapestries, carpets, silks, mosaics, inlaid cabinet and 
artistic work, lace, gold and silver cloth, pottery, steel," etc. 
Unfortunately these establishments were built upon government 
favor, teaching reliance upon government which has wrought 
ill since. Worse still, the importance to a people of its soil was 
overlooked altogether. 

*A stirred national life is the great inspiration of literature 
and art. The men of the Ancien Regime did not know how 
hollow the national life was. It was splendid, and they supposed 
it was real. Special encouragement was added. Louis regarded 
it as part of his function as king to patronize all fine production. 
It was a noble list he had to encourage — Pascal, Fontaine, Cor- 
neille, Racine, Moliere, Bossuet, Fenelon, La Bruyere, Boileau, 
Roucliefoucauld, Sevigne, Lebrun, Rigaud, Mignard, Perrault, 
Mansard, to say nothing of the notables abroad who basked in 
the favor of Le Grand Monarque. 

^Part of the scheme for keeping power in the king's hands. 
Nobles discharging office might forget that the office was the 
king's. The man whom the king's appointment made or un- 
made would not lightly forget his obligations. 

^ He worked out a famous scheme of Reunions. The terri- 
tories ceded to France at Westphalia had other territories more 
or less loosely related to them. Louis insisted that these be- 
longed to him. He established Chambers of Reunion, whose 
function was to pass upon claims. Of course the French claim 
was always sustained. One of Louis' mottoes was, " Self- 



MODERN FRANCE. I97 

aggrandizement is the noblest as well as the most pleasant occu- 
pation of kings." Starting with that principle, he found a 
large field in the Reunions, 

.' Introducing the shame and horror of religious persecution 
again. Public worship was absolutely forbidden Protestants, 
whose pastors must leave the realm within fifteen days under 
penalty of the galleys for life. All children must be brought up 
Catholics. Madame Maintenon is credited with principal role 
in the tragedy. Persuasion, purchase, violence, all were em- 
ployed. An argument at once peculiarly brutal and peculiarly 
effective was that of military lodgment. Soldiers were quartered 
in Huguenot families with special license. Many, to save the 
honor of wives and daughters, professed conversion. The num- 
ber of refugees was probably not less than a round million. 
These, the choicest of France's children, carried industrial skill 
and moral strength to other lands. 

* ^[50,000,000 at least and countless lives went into the palace 
of Versailles alone. This was only one of several mad schemes. 
It is not the fact of waste alone that hurts ; the manner of it 
also counts. When Versailles was finished Louis asked the 
Montespan, who chanced to be the favorite of his harem, how 
she liked it. She said it was perfect, but for lack of snow for a 
sleigh-ride. That night miles of roadway through the parks 
were whitened with crushed sugar and salt, and the next day 
the court party had a sleigh-ride. This was at a time when taxes 
were so heavy that Languedoc actually begged the king to take 
all the wealth of the province and allow the owners one-tenth 
tax free. 

'In 1675 the people of Dauphiny were living on acorns, roots, 
grass, and bark. In 1682, according to official reports, the people 
of Poitou had been without bread for two years. 



SEC. 4. THE STORM GATHERS. 

It was seventy-four years from the death of Louis XIV 
to the Revolution. There was no year of the seventy- 
four when France might not have been saved if French- 
men, king and people, had been other than they were. 
28 



198 MODERN FRANCE. 

Frenchmen, king and people, being what they were, 
there was no year when France was not moving straight 
to doom. Every year was worse than the year before — 
financial maladministration worse, judicial obliquity 
worse, governmental incapacit}^ worse, moral corrup- 
tion, if possible, worse/ Even before Eouis XIV died, 
wise men foresaw the end,'' though France's weakness 
was concealed by royal splendor, personal force of king, 
and memory of good days. The splendor was kept up 
for three-quarters of a century, but the strong king'^ was 
not there, and good days had ceased to be even a mem- 
ory. Then it was seen that absolutism in France, though 
a structure so imposing that it awed the whole world, 
had no other foundation than the sand. Among the 
causes of its overthrow several ma}^ be named : i. A 
chronic financial crisis. Unsecured issues of paper, 
loans, forced contributions, repudiation, only increased 
the evil, to the despair of finance ministers, some of 
them able, who could not bring ro3"al will to only course 
promising safety, adjustment of outgo to income. 2. 
Iniquitous taxation. Worst features of Roman system 
reappeared in farming, holding district responsible for 
failure of individual; killing exactions like gabelle,* 
corvee,^ and taille.*' 3. Industrial abuses. Production, 
distribution, consumption all paid toir at every stage on 
monstrous principle that king controls both life and 
work. 4. Poverty. Nine-tenths of the people lacked 
comfort, and more than half went hungr3^ 5. Arbi- 
trariness. The will of the king was law, issuing often 
in lits de Justice 2ind. lettres de cachet. ■ 6. Vice. The mis- 
tresses^ of Louis XIV and Louis XV and the latter's 
pare aiix eerfs make it easy to believe in a day of judg- 
ment. 7. Privilege. The central power brooked no 
opposition to its own claims, but left nobilit}^ with 



MODERN FRANCE. 1 99 

many of its old feudal rights still good as against the 
commons. 8. Decline of national prestige. Foolish 
alliances, unhappy wars, loss of territory, made France 
for a time almost a negligible factor in European pol- 
itics. 9. Failure of reverence for royalty. Even the 
divinity that hedges kingship yields to the strain, when 
for any considerable period the king is a moral leper or 
an imbecile. 10. Public opinion. The literature of the 
1 7th century and the economic and philosophical thought 
of the 1 8th century were not fruitless. Montesquieu,'' 
Diderot, Voltaire, and Rousseau''' rendered especially 
significant service. Men found that they dared to think. 
With thought came speech, and the air w^as filled with 
protest, no good omen for a tottering throne. 

^ Honorable exception must be made of Ivouis XVI. His 
morals were all right, but he was so lamentably weak that one 
is tempted to wish that he had shown energy enough to be 
wicked — a little. 

^ Louis saw it himself. His dying words, so little understood 
and so little followed, to the five-year-old lad who was to be king 
after him would be beautiful, if they were not so patheticall}- 
out of accord with his whole life. " You are soon to be king of 
a great realm. What I commend most earnestly to you is never 
to forget the obligations you owe to God. Try to keep peace 
with your neighbors. I have been too fond of war. Do not ini" 
itate me in that, nor in my too great expenditure." 

^ Louis XIV was strong and wicked. Louis XV was wicked 
and weak. Louis XVI was weak to the point of imbecility. The 
Capetinn line was running out. 

* A salt tax. Every one, no matter what his needs, must buy 
at least seven pounds of salt a year, at prices several times tlie 
market value, to support a government monopoly. Infraction 
of the salt law meant the dungeon always, often the galley or the 
scaffold. 

^ Forced labor. The peasant could be called off from his own 
work any time to serve on roads, bridges, or other public enter- 
prise. 



200 MODERN FRANCE. 

^ A land tax levied according to productiveness of soil. A 
well-tilled field was an advertisement to the tax-gatherer. 

^ All kinds of vexatious hindrances discouraged intercourse 
within the kingdom. A workman crossing the line between 
district and district had to pay toll on the scant meal of bread 
and cheese he carried in his ragged blouse. On the Rhone, 
within a distance of three hundred miles, domestic goods on 
their way to a domestic market paid thirty tolls. 

^ These women greatly influenced the government, especially 
under Louis XV, when practically they were in turn the gov- 
ernment itself. The whim of a harlot could determine the 
destiny of half Europe. Strange to sa}'-, the spectacle of ille- 
gitimate children born to the king in the royal palace itself, 
and foreign ministers bowing low before the king's concubines, 
did not improve the morals of courtiers or even of the petty 
noblesse. 

^Studied problem of liberty under law. Expounded prin- 
ciples of conslitutional government. His work "The Spirit of 
Laws" was immensely popular. Voltaire said of it, "The 
human race had lost its title deeds ; Montesquieu found and 
restored them." 

^° Avowed atheists, but passionate advocates of liberty. In 
them the revolution wrought itself out in the world of ideas. 
A little later it would come in the world of action. 



SEC. 5. THE STORM BREAKS. 

The storm so loii^ gathering broke at la.st. Louis 
XVI, as incapable as he was well meaning, did the 
best he knew in the intervals of hunting and lock- 
making. Maurepas, Turgot, Necker, Calonne did the 
best they could to cure the hopeless malady of the 
kingdom. As a last resort^ the States General were 
convoked, nobility, clergy, commons. Five weeks of 
debate followed on the fundamental question whether, 
as of old, voting should be by orders, putting the com- 
mons at the mercy of nobles and clergy, or by persons, 



MODERN FRANCE. 20I 

making the commons supreme. Then, clearly sup- 
ported by public opinion, the commons resolved them- 
selves into the National Assembly, determined to attend 
to the nation's business, with or without the other 
orders."'' Unterrified by royal threats '' and indifferent 
to all noble or clerical* opposition, the}^ then took oath 
to give France a constitution. The}' were soon joined 
by the other orders, partly permitted, partly com- 
manded by the king. Meanwhile the municipal gov- 
ernment of Paris was repudiated by the citizens, 
who organized in its place the Commune, potent 
at once in defense of the Assembly, to be more 
potent still when, later, it compelled the Assembly to 
do its revolutionary will.^ The police and militarj^ 
organization of the citizens constituted the first body 
of national guards. Angered by show of force from 
the Bastille, the city burst into insurrection. The 
Bastille was stormed. "Then it is a revolt," said 
Louis, awakened at Versailles to hear the news. ' ' No, 
sire," was the reply, *' it is a revolution." The trium- 
phant mob added horror to horror. Royalists were 
butchered, palaces were sacked, property was destroyed, 
the king defied. A wave of revolt and riot swept over 
France,^ the provinces quick to follow the capital. 
Conceding to violence what they had refused to argu- 
ment or appeal, nobles and clergy celebrated the Night 
of Sacrifices, hastening to divest themselves of privi- 
leges which now meant death. The king yielded at 
every point. Henceforth not the king but the people 
constituted the state. The Ancien Regime was dead. 

^ The need of radical measures grew ever more apparent, for 
the finances were steadily goin^ from bad to worse. Turgot 
had proposed sweeping reforms — local self-government, aboli- 
tion of the corvee, readjustment of feudal rights, uniform laws, 



202 MODERN FRANCE. 

freedom of thought and of conscience, instruction for the people. 
Perhaps all these reforms could have been wrought had. not 
Turgot coupled with them the monstrous proposition to tax the 
nobility and clergy. Such injustice ! The king had promised 
to stand by his great finance minister. When the storm broke 
he shamelessly took cover, and Turgot had to go the way of 
other able men before and since. Necker let privileges alone, 
but reduced expenses, which sealed his fate, and he went after 
Turgot. Calonne did not touch privileges. He did not reduce 
expenses. Reborrowed. 500,000,000 francs borrowed in three 
years eased court expenses wonderfully, but made hard reckon- 
ing afterward. Forced to other measures, he advised a confer- 
ence of notables. The notables met, listened, got angry, and — 
did nothing. No resort was left but the States General. The 
States General met after an enforced recess of one hundred and 
seventy-five years. 

^ With good right, according to our reckoning. Quarter of a 
million persons were represented in the two orders of nobles 
and clergy. The commons represented fifteen millions. 

^The king clo.sed the hall against them. The}^ then went to 
the tennis court of the palace, where they took the famous oath. 
When later they were shut out of that, they met for a time in 
one of the churches. 

* This only from the higher order. The humbler church leaders 
were in full sympathy with the commons. 

^ For months after the extremi.sts gained control the Assembly 
was only the registering body for the populace. Even at the 
maddest hour of the revolution it was thought well to have vio- 
lence done under cover of law. The clubs— Feuillants, Jacobins, 
Cordeliers, etc. — were lobbies and committee-rooms, whose reso- 
lutions were made law from day to day, according to the ascend- 
ency of the different elements. 

^ Every sign of hated privilege within reach was destroyed : 
'' Custom-houses were razed, nobles and unpopular officers of 
government hung, castles burned, monasteries pillaged, all re- 
minders of the old system expunged." "Serfdom, feudal ju- 
risdiction, manorial ground rents, tithes, game laws, salable 
offices, fees, clerical robing dues, municipal and provincial priv- 
ileges, privileges of rank, exemptions from taxes, plurality of 
offices and livings — all were swept away in breathless haste in 
one night." 



MODERN FRANCE. 2O3 



SEC. 6. CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY. 

If there was the remotest possibility of doing a weak 
thing, Louis XVI could be depended upon to do it. If 
it was tactless as well as weak, the queen was sure to 
help him. A banquet at Versailles was made the occa- 
sion of insult to thetri-color cockade,^ now the badge of 
patriotism. There were hints that the king intended 
to run away. Stupid plots against the nation were pre- 
posed. The Parisian mob, backed b}^ the National 
Guard, swarmed out to Versailles and carried the royal 
family to the capital." The nobility took fright. Thou- 
sands " emigrated." ■' Eluding his jailers in the Tuil- 
eries, the king sought to escape the kingdom. His 
purpose was to join the emigres, and at their head, sup- 
ported by foreign armies, return to crush the revolu- 
tion. The failure* of the attempt probably saved the 
cause of the nation. It certainly sealed the fate of 
Louis, though he had still a year and a half to live. 
For a little everything went well. The National As- 
sembly completed its work on the constitution. The 
king ratified the constitution. By it the feudal prov- 
inces were supplanted by departments of administra- 
tion ; equal religious and civil rights were guaranteed 
all citizens; the criminal code was reformed; the press 
was declared free; legislation and taxation were made 
national, not royal, functions; the Crown, thus limited, 
carried the title King of the French instead of King of 
France. "*' The constitution was hailed as the salvation 
of France. The National Assembly dissolved, giving 
place to the Legislative Assembly, the first legislature 
under the new constitution. Meanwhile royalty out- 
side France was thoroughl}^ alarmed, counting the cause 



204 MODERN FRANCE. 

of Louis its own. Prussia and Austria made up an 
army under the Duke of Brunswick to reseat Louis. 
An insolent proclamation^ of the Duke, together with 
disastrous defeats of the undisciplined National Guard, 
threw Paris into frenz3^ The Swiss guards were mas- 
sacred. The king was suspended from even his limited 
authorit3^ The allied arni}^ pushed on. Apparently 
nothing could save the capital. To strike terror into 
the royalists the atrocious purpose was formed of butch- 
ering the aristocrats who crowded the prisons of the 
city. Judicial assassins were set to work. Hounded 
on by the mob, the}^ wrought unweariedly until the 
prisons were empty. The panic stiffened the enterprise 
of the armj^, and the decisive victory of Valmy sent the 
allies beyond the border. The Legislative Assembly 
then gave way to the National Convention, summoned 
in response to the popular demand that the nation pass 
anew upon the question of royalty. September 2 1 , 1792, 
the first day of its session, the Convention decided that 
France should be a republic. The Constitutional Mon- 
archy had lasted a 3^ear and seven days. 

^ It was trampled under foot with rude jests by nobles inflamed 
with loyalty, wine, and passion, the court ladies clapping ap- 
proval. In its place was set the Bourbon white. 

^ A rabble led by thousands of dirty, starving women did the 
work. Their pet names for the queen were the Austrian and 
Madame Deficit. The poor creatures had a numb sort of convic- 
tion that with the king and queen in their hands there would be 
an end of their trouble. ' ' We shall not die of hunger now, ' ' they 
shouted as they turned toward Paris. " We have got the baker, 
and the baker's wife, and the baker's little boy." Such was the 
Joyous Entry, October 6, 1789. 

^ The example set by the king's own brother. The crisis was 
severe, no doubt. Many of those who fled certainly would have 
stayed only at cost of life. Still one cannot help feeling that 



MODERN FRANCE. 205 

now was the time when France needed her nobles. Their ac- 
tions outside were as asinine as possible, boasting what they 
would do, and doing nothing, except exasperate the people from 
whom they had fled. 

* After the usual amount of delay king, queen, dauphin, prin- 
cess royal, and Madame Elizabeth got away. At first everything 
went right and the royal family were within a few hours of 
safety. Then everything went wrong. Blunders as stupid as 
anything the king himself could have thought out were com- 
mitted by the rescuing party. Blunders on the part of the flee- 
ing royalists supplemented them. At Varennes the king was 
recognized and stopped. A second "joyous entry" was cele- 
brated with bitter curses upon the perfidy of the king. 

^Significance of the change apparent only by reference to 
feudalism. 

^ He ordered the French nation to submit to their king. Paris 
he threatened to destroy if any harm should come to the royal 
family. 



SEC. 7. REPUBI^IC. 

Dead kings lead no reactions. Partly from fear of 
restoration, parth^ from conviction that the king had 
conspired against his country,' partly from desire to 
break utterly with the past, the National Convention 
sent Louis to the guillotine.' Henceforth there was 
to be no royalty, no aristocracy. Liberty, equality, 
fraternity were the watchwords of the day. The revo- 
lutionists saw the whole world at their feet. The 
generals were commissioned to abolish the old order 
wherever they led their armies, proclaiming the sov- 
ereignty of the people."^ Every throne, practically 
every government of Europe, was thus threatened. 
England, Holland, Spain, Austria, Prussia united to 
beat down the Republic. Insurrection broke out in 
parts of France. The French people rose to the issue. 
29 



2o6 MODKRN FRANCE. 

Moderates in the Convention were silenced. Irresolntes 
were startled into decision. Extremists swept all before 
them. The Convention became a Jacobin club, directed 
by Marat the cynic, Danton the atheist, Robespierre 
the socialist, and supported by the mob of the Com- 
mune led by Hebert the nihilist. The Reign of Terror 
followed. For nearl}^ fourteen months * French life 
was a carnival of crime under the frightful dictatorship 
of the Committee of Public Safety.^ Paris went mad 
with lust and crime and blood. The provinces strove 
to better the example. Age, sex, virtue, service 
counted nothing. Finally the riot destroyed itself. 
Marat, Hebert, Danton, Robespierre went down, each 
destroying those before him, only in turn to lay his 
own neck under the axe. 

^ There can be no doubt that the king had broken faith. He 
was in regular correspondence with the emigres and with neigh- 
boring sovereigns for the overthrow of the constitution which 
he had pu>)Hcly and solemnly sworn to obey. There is a re- 
deeming element in the suggestion that he himself believed 
what he tried to make his brother kings believe, that in restor- 
ing him they would be making war, not upon a people, but upon 
a faction, 

'■^January 21, 1793. Part of Louis' troubles were of his own 
devising. More yet were his inheritance. An incident reported 
from the life of Louis XV has more than passing application to 
his grandson. The Marquis de Marigny proposed a magnificent 
scheme for cleansing and beautifying Paris. '' But where, ' ' said 
the king, "do you imagine that I should find the money to carry 
out yovir admirable plans?" "Ah, sire," Marigny replied, "such 
a thought would never have occurred to your great ancestor, 
Louis XIV." " I wish it had sometimes done so," said the king; 
" it would then have occurred less frequently to me." If Louis 
XIV had only dreamed of the possibility of the loss of a royal 
head, Louis XVI might have been spared his. 

^The Declaration of Pilnitz, promulgating "the cause of 
kings," was thus answered by " the cause of nations. ' Liberty 



MODERN FRANCE. 207 

was offered in name of France to any people who would put down 
their despots. 

* June 2, 17,93-July 27, 1794. 

^ A kind of executive. Government by committee is always 
difficult because of failure to get prompt and unified action. 
Government by legislature is incomparably worse. Danton saw 
this and urged the formation of the committee. A special court 
also was organized to pass upon cases of conspiracy. The Com- 
mittee of Public Safety and the Revolutionary Tribunal gave 
the leaders of the Revolution control of every life within the 
borders of France. 



SEC. 7, CONTINUED. 

Then came revulsion of feeling and the Moderates 
regained control. A new constitution was framed, 
establishing a legislature of two houses and an execu- 
tive body of five members, known as the Directory. 
Meanwhile the armies had been busy winning victories, 
ably led by Pichegru, Moreau, Jourdain, Hoche. 
Belgium was recovered. Holland was conquered. 
The Rhine was made a French river. Tuscany, 
Prussia, Spain were driven from the field. Then, as 
if all before had been merely preparatory, France set 
out to republicanize Europe. For this her mightiest 
instrument was Napoleon.^ Loving battle, loving suc- 
cess, perhaps at first loving France,^ he smote Sardinia, 
reduced Italy, forced Austria to peace, sought to crip- 
ple England by way of Egypt. Dazzled by success, 
France approved when Napoleon overthrew the Di- 
rectory in 1799, and paved the way to his own power 
by the Consulate. A new constitution legalized the 
change. But while France endorsed the rule of Na- 
poleon other countries did not. Austria and England ^ 
refused to recoo^nize the First Consul. Austria was 



208 MODK^N FRANCE. 

crushed at Marengo and Hohenlinden. England re- 
lieved Egypt but was glad to make peace. Napoleon 
was made Consul for Life 1802. Two years free from 
war were given to the internal affairs of France. 
Means of communication were perfected, agriculture 
and industry were stimulated, art and letters were 
encouraged, and, most important service of all, the 
Code Napoleon * was formed. By 1804 everything was 
sufficiently in hand to warrant fitting names to facts, "* 
and Napoleon was proclaimed Emperor. The Repub- 
lic had lasted twelve years. 

^The incident of Toulon was prophetic of Napoleon's whole 
career. The Spanish and English were in a way to take the city 
from the water side. The young officer of artillery coolly sug- 
gested that there was one point which commanded their posi- 
tion, and showed them where it was. Cannon were planted there, 
and the siege was raised. He always saw the point that com- 
manded the position of the enemy and planted bis cannon there. 

^ There is pretty unanimous opinion that after the first he 
neither loved nor served anything but himself. 

^Napoleon may thank England for endless mischief to his 
plans. She was his one uncompromising foe. She led every 
coalition against him. She backed with men and money every 
effort toward his overthrow. No higher compliment could be 
paid a nation than Napoleon paid England. Hopelessly crushed, 
it was upon her mercy that he threw himself. 

* French law was in a sadly disorganized state. liefore the 
Revolution every considerable district had its own system, the 
survival of feudal conditions, justifying the half jest of Voltaire 
that a traveler in France had to change laws about as often as 
he changed horses. Napoleon did not originate the preparation 
of a code. The Convention had discussed two outlines, reject- 
ing both. Immediately on becoming consul, Napoleon opened 
the question anew. Roman law, customary law, royal ordi- 
nances, and the laws of the, Revolution were collated. The re- 
sulting system was published as Code Civil de Fran^ais. Its 
success was great enough to make Napoleon desirous of asso- 



MODERN FRANCE. 209 

elating his name with it, and it was republished under the title 
Code Napoleon. The French code has been extravagantly 
praised and extravagantly blamed. Thanks .partly to French 
conquest and partly to intrinsic excellence, it has greatly in- 
fluenced continental Europe, particularly the Latin countries. 

* Note the singularly close parallel between the Roman and 
French republics in their passage, first into imperial spirit, then 
into imperial organization. 



SEC. 8. EMPIRE. 

The processof repiiblicanizing Europe at once stopped. 
Within five years the republics already organized were 
kingdoms. But the extension of French influence did 
not stop. These reorganized kingdoms were made de- 
pendencies of France. Beyond were possibilities of still 
new dependencies. Toward these Napoleon stretched 
out his hand. His territorial ambition was seconded by 
necessity. The powers of Europe dreaded Napoleon's 
p3werand hated him as a usurper. Sometimes singly, 
sometimes together, they took up arms against him. 
Such armies and such fighting the world had never 
seen. Aided by a score of lieutenants, only less able 
than himself, he swept the continent. Austria he broke 
afresh at Austerlitz, 1805. Prussia he goaded into fight 
and crushed at Jena and Auerstadt, 1806. Russia was 
beaten into alliance by the overwhelming defeat of 
Friedland, 1807. Trafalgar, 1805, had taught Napo- 
leon the impossibility of reaching England directly. 
Now he smites her from afar by the continental system.^ 
Because Portugal ventured to disregard his continental 
policy, the great dictator turned over the kingdom to 
one of his marshals, and proceeded to gather in the 
whole peninsula.^ Atistria ventured to raise her head 



2IO MODERN FRANCE. 

and was ground anew between the upper and nether 
millstones of Eckmiihl and Wagram, 1809. Even the 
Pope was whipped in,^ completing the triumph of the 
man who recognized no authority on earth save his 
own. Then the tide turned.* Matters were not going 
wholly to Napoleon's liking beyond the P}- renees. The 
ruinous restrictions of the Continental SyvStem hurt the 
continent not less than England. France had been 
drained of men and money. The hope of freedom 
which made the oppressed in all countries hail Napo- 
leon as their champion had proved an illusion. The 
noblesse of functionaries was a doubtful aristocracy at 
best. England had remained consistently hostile. Now 
Russia was an enemy. The story to the end is briefly 
told. It is summed up in Borodino, ° Moscow, Bere- 
sina, lycipsic,*^ Elba, the Hundred Days, Waterloo, St. 
Helena. The empire had lasted eleven years. 

^ Napoleon ruled or controlled so much of Europe that he felt 
warranted in treating the whole continent as his kingdom. By 
the Berlin and Milan decrees he prohibited all intercourse be- 
tween England and the continent. The effect upon England 
was serious, but to many European ports it was simply disas- 
trous. 

'^ The King of Spain was compelled to abdicate and Napoleon's 
brother Joseph was set in his place. 

^The Pope violated the continental system. Napoleon con- 
fiscated the estates of the church. The Pope excommunicated 
him. Napoleon then confiscated the Pope. For four years the 
spiritual head of Christendom was a prisoner in France. 

* The affair of the Spanish crown was a mistake for Napoleon, 
as it awakened national feeling, the one thing dangerous to a 
despot. The violence to the Pope was not without penalty : "It 
was worse than a crime ; it was a blunder." It set the Catholic 
clergy against him, multiplying his enemies just when he was 
about to need friends. 

^Borodino, 1812, a costly victory ; Moscow, a stroke of Prov- 



MODKRN FRANCE. 211 

idence, mediated by Russian loyalty ; Beresina an unresisted 
slaughter. These names stand for the Russian campaign, which 
cost France well nigh half a million warriors. 

^The Battle of the Nations, 1813. Napoleon conjured up a 
fresh arni}^ of 300,000, Preliminary successes opened the way 
for decisive battle of Leipsic. It lasted three days and ended 
in total defeat for Napoleon. All efforts to stem the tide of 
movement upon Paris were in vain. Many of Napoleon's offi- 
cers deserted him, recognizing further struggle as hopeless. 
Paris surrendered. Napoleon yielded and was imprisoned at 
Elba. The reward of escape thence was guardianship of St. 
Helena. 



SEC. 9. IN STATU QUO. 

Napoleon's map-making had not been satisfactory to 
any one but himself. The Congress of Vienna, 1815, 
undertook to put the lines back in the old places.^ 
1 792 was taken as the normal year. This, after twenty- 
three years of victory, at first sight seems both strange 
and unjtv^t. But it was neither. The strangeness is 
suggested, by the haste and urgency with which sub- 
jugated kingdoms, dukedoms, and what not, sought the 
old order. Many who had worshiped Napoleon, at 
his first defeat fell away and cursed him. These men, 
however, were no ordinary turncoats. For a decade 
and a half Napoleon had persuaded them to wear their 
coats wrong-side out, and there was no shame in their 
getting them right again. The injustice is suggested 
b}^ apparent indifference to the toil and blood of France. 
But France had long since forgotten the enthusiasms 
of the Revolution, and, swelling with prrde and power 
and lust of dominion, was seeking to impose upon 
Kurope the rule of as arbitrary a despot as ever swayed 
scepter. Napoleon built empire upon the hope of neigh- 



212 MODKRN I^RANCK. 

boring peoples. The call to freedom in France was 
echoed in Italy, in Spain, in Austria, along the Rhine. 
Napoleon was statesman enough to fill his regiments'' 
and his purse from the passion that hailed him as a de- 
liverer. But when tho^^e who sought liberty had given 
life and treasure, they found that they had spent all, 
not for freedom but for a chain. The Revolution was 
a stupendous abortion, and Napoleon was its natural, 
perhaps its inevitable, product. And Napoleon could 
not stand because his dominion was against the nature 
of things. It is not a happy ending : Bourbon Louis 
XVIII, an absolutist derelict, on the throne ; France 
smaller than a quarter of a century before, in spite of 
all her victories and her dead ; the Holy Alliance leagued 
against progress ; popular government discredited ; ^ lib- 
erty a by- word, 

^ Where exact restorations were impossible equivalents were 
substituted. In general, the results were as follows : Prussia lost 
in Poland, but got part of Saxony and good territory in the 
Rhenish provinces. Austria lost the Netherlands, but got Lom- 
bardy, Tyrol, Venetia, and the Illyrian and Dalmatian provinces. 
Russia got Poland. Etigland got Malta, Heligoland, and gen- 
erous provision of French and Dutch colonies. Sweden got 
Norway, rent from Denmark. Switzerland got Geneva, Wallis, 
Neuchatel. Sardinia got Genoa. The Pope got his States back 
again. Holland and Belgium were joined in ill-assorted union. 
Bourbons were restored in France, Spain, Sardinia, Tuscany, 
Modena, Naples. Of course, some results could not be undone. 
Scores of German principalities had been wiped out. Germany 
was gathered up into 29 vStates, large and small, with Austria 
recognized as head. 

2 Of the half million fighters who constituted the Grand Army 
that was to devour Russia the smaller part was French. Nearly 
every German State was represented by a contingent. Italians, 
Swiss, Dutch, Poles made up the balance. The Russians still 
speak of the Grand Army as the " army of twenty nations." 



MODERN FRANCK. 2 I -^ 

' The spirit of the Congress of Vienna was wholly reaction- 
ary. " Its proceedings were characterized by a disregard of 
popular rights, of differences of race and religion, and of his- 
torical tradition worthy of Napoleon in his worst days. Europe 
was treated as if it were a l)lank map which might be divided 
into arbitrary districts of so many square miles and so many in- 
habitants." The next three decades were throughout Europe 
one long repression of liberal sentiments or of grudging assent 
to them. 



SFX. lO. NET GAIN. 

Was, then, this gigantic struggle bootless? Far 
otherwise. Precious truths were struck out by it, 
and France and the whole world are richer by them. 

1. Freedom or slavery is in a people's character. 
Ability to write books is not the first qualification for 
establishing a constitution.' Doctrinaire statesmanship 
bore its legitimate fruit in the butcheries of Marat, the 
madness of Hebert, and the tyranny of Robespierre. 

2. Political salvation is a work which each nation must 
work out for itself. Impulse might be, was, imparted 
to other peoples by the French. Thanks largely to 
the French Revolution, other lands are now as free as 
France. But each has solved its own problem in its 
own way. 3. Revolutions never go backward. The 
Bourbons got their throne again, but they held it 
thenceforth, not as the master but as the servant of the 
state. ^ The famous maxim of Louis XIV is never re- 
peated now except to point a moral. Herein, indeed, 
lies the significance of the French Revolution — its 
enforcement upon the Old World, as the American 
Revolution enforced it upon the New, of the funda- 
mental principle that the secret of political organiza- 

30 



214 MODERN FRANCE. 

tion is in the will of the people, and that the will of 
the people is irresistible.^ 

^ Sometimes nothing is so illogical as logic. The traditional 
French tendency to carry a s3'Stem to the extreme requirement 
has worked strongly against political sanity in French institu- 
tions. The largest exception, both to bookishness and ill-success, 
is furnished by France's present constitution, which was made 
to meet not a theory, but a condition, and which confessedU' 
niade no attempt to provide specifically for all contingencies. 
It therefore contains fewer formulas and more political sense. 

"^ Revolution destroyed property right of king in people and 
.developed theory of government based on national consent. 

^ Out of the gospel of discontent which the orators of the Revo- 
lution preached with such power, some doctrines have come over 
to our time. This of the right of the people in the government 
has changed the face of the world. And now that the truth has 
found utterance, we need not wish it otherwise. Rousseau's 
evangel bore bitter fruit, both in the Revolution itself and in 
the despotism which came after. But that was because the 
Revolutionists and Napoleon failed to understand the teaching. 
The will of the people unbridled made the Revolution. Napo- 
leon rose to empire on that will. His downfall was wrought by 
the disappointment of it, rise and fall alike simpl}^ proving its 
power. However the Revolution missed it, popular government 
since has shown beyond possibility of mistake that that power 
is the true support of national life. 



SEC. II. A HAI,F CENTURY OF EXPERIMENT. 

Wisdom is not learned in a day. The political 
growth of France was no more rapid than might be 
expected. Faith in formulas, reaction toward absolu- 
tism, book politics, coups d'etat ^ fill a large part of the 
governmental history of France between 1815 and 
1 87 1. I. The restored I^ouis started off well, graci- 
ously overlooking the fact that monarchy had ever suf- 



MODERN FRANCE. 21 5 

fered interruption.^ Only from his royal goodness could 
constitutions proceed, but he took care that a constitu- 
tion should proceed therefrom without delay. Under 
his rule the countr}^, at rest from war, except for the 
invasion of Spain in the interests of the Holy Alliance, 
recovered from the Napoleonic exhaustion. 2. Charles 
X succeeded to the throne, as stupid now as he had 
been cowardly in 1789.* His reign was a continuous 
reaction, ending in absolutist revolution,^ which failed 
because the people met it with a counter-revolution de- 
throning Charles. 3. Louis Philippe was a. constitu- 
tional monarch, who recognized his crown as the gift 
of the people, and the constitutionally expressed will of 
the people as the law of the realm. 4. The Second 
Republic. The " citizen king " was slow to see pos- 
sibility of improvement in the way of liberalizing the 
constitution. Growth of liberal ideas made change 
necessary. The king abdicated rather than face the 
crisis which France had to meet in common with the 
rest of Europe in 1848. A provisional government 
was organized and a new constitution prepared, repub- 
lican simply because the monarchists, though over- 
whelmingly in the majority, could not agree among 
themselves. This period, accidentally republican, 
lasted until 1852, when Prince Louis Napoleon," having 
the royal power, was almost unanimously "elected" 
emperor. 5. The Second Empire. Napoleon III vig- 
orously pushed internal improvements, took part in 
the Crimean' War, and fought Austria in behalf of 
Sardinia. He liberalized the government and carried 
through a new constitution. His project of French 
dominion in Mexico was unfortunate. His clash with 
. Prussia was fatal," both to himself and to France. 



2l6 MODKRN FRANCE. 

» As that of Charles X, 1830, that of Louis Napoleon, 1851, to 
say nothing of several abortive attempts by adventurers like 
Boulanger. 

2 The restored monarchy named ordinances of 1815 as of the 
19th year of Louis XVIII, dating the accession from 1795. when 
the Dauphin died. 

3 Ferdinand of Spain, hard pressed by a liberal revolution, 
was a prisoner in the palace at Madrid. Ferdinand was a rela- 
tive of Louis, a Catholic, and an absolutist. If the Holy Alli- 
ance meant anything at all it meant help for such a contingency. 
Louis acted promptly. A French army restored Ferdinand, 
182.3. 

* The first to emigrate when trouble threatened royalty and 
nobility. 

^ "Only Lafayette and I have not changed since 1789," was 
his stupid boast. Time justified the proverb, "A Bourbon for- 
gets nothing and learns nothing." Charles lived and reigned 
with his face toward the past. He opposed liberal sentiments 
liflevery way possible. In 1830 he issued the famous reaction- 
ary edicts, suspending the liberty of the press and establishing 
a strict censorship over books ; dismissing the Chamber of Dep- 
uties just elected ; limiting the franchise ; summoning a new 
chamber on his own terms, in violation of the charter of Louis 
XVIII. Three days of fighting in the streets of Paris brought 
the king to his senses. He offered to withdraw the obnoxious 
edicts, but it was too late. Even his abdication availed nothing. 
Instead of taking the nominee of Charles, his little grandson, 
Due de Bordeaux, the people chose Louis Philippe, head of the 
Orleans branch of Bourbons. 

^ Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, son of the great Napoleon's 
brother, Louis of Holland, and Hortense Beauharnais, daughter 
of Josephine by her first marriage. The Prince President was 
therefore Napoleon's nephew by blood and grandson by mar- 
riage. 

^ Ingloriously ending a reign which began with great promise. 
Partly ambition, partly necessity for doing something brilliant 
to dazzle France and make it forget official blunders impelled 
Napoleon to desire war with Prussia. The pretext was found 
in questions of Spanish politics, Napoleon insisting that the 
Prussian king give pledge that no Hohenzollern should ever 



MODERN FRANCE. 217 

be allowed to become King of Spain. Of course, King Williaiu 
neither would nor could give such pledge. The French gov- 
ernment, bent on war, professed to see in this a threat to France, 
and war was declared. It was not a long war. Prussia was 
ready to the last grain of powder. France was not ready at all. 
As a scheme for glory the war was a dismal failure for Napoleon. 
As a stake in politics it ended French influence among the Ger- 
man States. Prussia dictated terms of peace in Paris, and the 
German Confederation became the mighty German Empire. 



SEC. 12. FRANCE TODAY. 

The battle of Sedan' sealed the fate of Napoleon III 
and the Second Empire. Three days later France was 
declared a republic under a provisional government. 
The new government had no easy task in the defense 
of France against a victorious army and the restraint of 
a proud people, distracted rather than humbled by de- 
feat. When further resistance was hopeless, Paris sur- 
rendered and negotiations for peace began. The with- 
drawal of the German troops was followed by a revival 
of the Revolutionary Commune. Many of the scenes 
of the Revolution were re-enacted. Presently the gov- 
ernment gained possession of the capital and order was 
restored. The Third Republic was then formally or- 
ganized.^ A third of a century of successful adminis- 
tration warrants conviction that the government will re- 
main permanently republican. 

Under the Third Republic France has prospered. 
Diligence and economy have added greatly to the mate- 
rial prosperity of the country. The war debt to Germany 
was paid off with unprecedented rapidity — a billion dol- 
lars in less than two years.' Agriculture, manufactures, 
trade have increased, educational facilities have been 



2t8 modern FRANCE. 

iiiiiltiplied, literature and art have thriven. True, there 
are clouds on the horizon. Colonial enlargement has cost 
heavily and the compensating advantages are not easily 
apparent. The national debt is enormous,* Public and 
semi-public enterprises have been marred b}^ huge scan- 
dals '^ involving official character. The population is 
stationary, if not actually decreasing. The wound of 
Alsace-Lorraine is still open. The Dreyfus case dis- 
closes a dangerous militarism. The Gallic temper is 
revealed in the fact that since 1789 France has had 
seventeen constitutions ; under the Third Republic no 
president has serv^ed out his term except Grevy, who, 
hovvever, was forced out early in his second ; ^ and the 
average life of a cabinet is about three-quarters of a 
year.'^ None the less, the Third Republic has proved 
more stable than any organization before or since-the 
overthrow of Louis XVI. The national defense has 
been vastly improved. The Russian entente provides a 
needed counterpoise to the Dreibitnd. While relatively 
to other powers France holds no such place as she has 
held several times hitherto, relatively to herself she is 
better off than ever before.^ 

'September i, 1870. The Emperor and Marshal MacMahon, 
with 100,000 men, were compelled to surrender. With an 
attempt at the dramatic, the Emperor wrote the King of Prussia, 
"Not being able to die at the head of my troops, I can only 
resign my sword into the hands of Your Majestyc" The fine 
sentiment was lost, both upon the Germans, whom he had bullied 
into war and who had squarely beaten him, and upon France, 
now thirsting for his blood to avenge his betrayal of her. Seven- 
teen thousand Frenchmen killed or wounded in the battle made 
the suggestion easy that any one honestly desiring death need 
not seek far. MacMahon's army had been organized to relieve 
Bazaine, shut up in Metz. Sedan was thus not less fatal to 
Bazaine than Mars-la-tour, Vionville, and Gravelotte, where he 



modp:rn franck. 



219 



had been smitten by the iron hand of Prussia. His surrender 
came six weeks later, with the main army of nearly 200,000. 

'A parliamentary republic, a distinct political innovation. The 
legislature consists of two houses. The senate has 300 members, 
elected by indirect suffrage, the electoral college in each depart- 
ment being formed by the deputies from that department, the 
department council, the district councillors, and delegates of 
municipal councils. The senatorial term is nine years. The 
Chamber of Deputies has 584 members, elected by direct uni- 
versal suffrage, one deputy for each district, including the col- 
onies. The term is four years. The two houses in joint session 
are the National Assembly. The President of the Republic is 
elected by the National Assembly, sitting for this one purpose 
at Versailles, and holds office for seven years. The President 
g'overns by a responsible ministry, 

^National thrift was stimulated by national pride in this en- 
deavor. Until the debt was paid a German army was to hold 
French soil. The strength of French credit at home and abroad 
is shown by the fact that when the government in 1871 opened 
a subscription for a loan of two and a half billion francs, seven 
and a half billion were offered. When in 1872 call was made 
for three and a half billion, forty-three billion were subscribed. 

*Over six billion dollars, twice that of Great Britain. 

^ The worst was that of the Panama Canal scheme. The work 
and expense were found to be double what was anticipated. 
Suggestions were made of corruption, as well as criminal mis- 
calculation. Investigation resulted in the exposure of many of 
the most prominent men in France — the son of ex-President 
Grevy ; Rouvier, finance minister ; the De Lesseps, father and 
son ; directors of the canal company ; ten senators and deputies, 
five of the ten being ex-ministers; while about a hundred other 
members of the legislature were implicated. 

^'i. Thiers, 1871 ; resigned 1873, though then the Assembly 
held the President responsible, dismissing him virtually at will. 
Thiers resigned because his policy was voted down in the Assem- 
bly. 2. MacMahon, 1873 ; resigned 1879. 3. Grevy, 1879- 1886. 
4. Grevy second term, 1886 ; resigned 1887. 5. Carnot, 1887 ; 
assassinated 1894. 6. Faure, 1894; died 1899. 7. Loubet, 
1899 . 



220 MODERN FRANCE. 

^A wholesome word appears in the preface of a book written 
in Paris in 1897. "The anthor would be glad if these pages 
might prove to those who read them that it is not by flying from 
one excess to another that a great people can achieve freedom 
and occupy a becoming place in the world." Lebon : Modern 
France. It is to be hoped that this sentiment will find response 
in the hearts of many of the author's countrymen. 

® Several times of late vigorous expression has been given to 
the national spirit. As these words come from the press, the 
government is seriously considering a popular demand that 
many hundred million francs be expended on war equipment. 
It is to be hoped that war is not imminent, either with Great 
Britain as Anglophobists hope, with Germany as many fear, or 
with any other power. None the less, one cannot be indifferent 
to these demands as disclosing a conviction of ability to match 
the glorious days of old. 



CHAPTER XI. 



Russia. 



SEC. I. GEOGRAPHY AND ETHNOGRAPHY. 

Russia is — Russia: huge, ungainly, unformed, 
brawny, an immature giant, needing half Europe and 
three-fifths of Asia for standing room.^ Seamed to- 
gether rather than severed b}^ the Ural Mountains, its 
limitless plains stretch away west to Scandinavia and 
the Baltic ; south, belting Germany and Austria, to the 
Black and Caspian seas ; east, bearing northward al- 
ways by Persia, India, and China, to the Pacific. Its 
northern coast line is that of the Arctic Ocean from 
Varanger fiord to Bering Strait. Within these bound- 
aries is a population of 120,000,000. We note : i. 
Geographical extent. Figures serve little better than 
names to represent the real size of the empire, running 
2,000 miles north and south by over 5,000 miles east 
and west, giving a grand total of over eight and a half 
million square miles of territory. 2. Physical con- 
gruity. This does not mean that all parts are alike, ^ 
but that all parts are fitted to go together. Widely 
separated regions do exhibit striking similarity of cli- 
mate,^ soil,* temperature ; but this is less vital than the 
fact of self-sufficiency within the empire itself. In 
Kurope the timber of the north and the wheat of the 
31 (221) 



222 RUSSIA. 

south complement each other. Siberia is simply the' 
prolongation of Europe into Asia. 3. Ethnographical 
diversity. There are not colors enough to allow a sep- 
arate one to each element in the table of the Russian 
family. Out of these elements, however, stand three 
groups as mainly important — Finn,^ Tartar, Slav. 4. 
Political unity. But there is no divided allegiance in 
this. A whisper at St. Petersburg is obeyed with alac- 
rity at Vladivostock. The discipline of despotism has 
wrought a perfect work. Whether from fear or from 
love, a hundred and twent}^ million out of the hundred 
and twenty million subjects of the empire may be 
counted on for obedience, for sacrifice, for death, when 
required by the Czar, who is at once Lord of all the 
Russias and Great Father to his people. 

'"Its plains, the hugest on onr planet, stretch on into the 
heart of the old continent until they reach the mountain masses 
of Central Asia ; between the Black and Caspian seas they are 
barred by the gigantic bulwark of the Caucasus, the foot of which 
lies partly below the level of the sea, while its summits rise near 
on 3,000 feet above the height of those of Mont Blanc. To the 
northwest Russia owns the lakes Ladoga and Oniega, the largest 
of Europe; to the uortheast, in Siberia, that of Baikal, the largest 
of Asia ; to the south, the Caspian and Aral seas, the largest 
lakes in the world. Her rivers are in proportion with her plains ; 
in Asia she has the Obi, the Yenisei, the Lena, the Anioor ; in 
Europe, the Dnieper, the Don, the Volga, that central artery of 
the country, a river that, with its sinuous course measuring 
nearly 2,400 miles, does not altogether belong to Europe. Nine- 
tenths of the Russian territory are as 3'et almost untenanted." 

■■^But great stretches are alike. The heart of the double con- 
tinent is uniform, barring the Ural range. It is misleading to 
speak of Russia in Europe as a prolongation of Asia, or of Rus- 
sia in Asia as a prolongation of Europe. The trouble lies in the 
geographical impossibility of separating Asia and Europe. Rus- 
sia is just the great inner expanse of this double continent, 
fringed about, except on the north, with diversified states. 



RUSSIA. 



223 



' Russia has a continental climate without the modifications 
of a marine situation, softness and moisture. 

* The geological structure is marked by horizontalism. The 
stratification has never been broken up except at the edges. 
*' Slowly emerged out of the sea, the laud preserves its marine 
aspect in its immense, slightly undulating plains, which easily 
carry fancy back to the relatively recent period when across this 
depression the Baltic blended its waters with those of the Black 
Sea, and possibly the Caspian with those of the Arctic Ocean, 
separating Europe from Asia." Lack of variety in agricultural 
methods is in part thus justified by the existence of immense 
tracts on which the soil is of identical composition, calling for 
identical treatment. 

One of the striking physical features is the series of belts, the 
forest zone, and the steppe zone. The former extends from the 
limit of tree life within the Arctic Circle, far below Moscow to 
its southern limit, an unfixed line, continually changing with 
the enlargement of the steppe by encroachment upon the forest. 
The steppe zone is divided among the black mould belt skirting 
the forest zone, the steppe proper, and the great salt barrens 
further south, an unfertile deposit of sea now lost. 

^Once occupied bulk of territory now Russian. In slow sub- 
sidence before oncoming Slav, the Finn has left landmarks over 
surface of great part of empire. 



SKC. 2. THK KINGDOM OF RURIK. 

A political characteristic of the Slav is suggested by 
his habit of seeking organization from without.^ This 
habit was formed early. The irrepressible Norman 
had made a name of strength for himself, just as the 
Slavonian community of Novgorod discovered its in- 
curable weakness.'^ In response to their petition the 
traditional three brothers crossed the Baltic. Two of 
the three new-made kings dying, Rurik was alone at 
the head of what was to be Russia.^ He vindicated 
the confidence of those who had made him ruler. Good 
names among his sticcessors were Oleg, his brother ; 



224 RUSSIA. 

Olga, his daughter-in-law ; * Vladimir, who made the 
country Christian ^ and therefor got sainthood ; Yaros- 
laf I, illustrious for wise administration and for Rus- 
sia's first code of laws. Then the law of gavelkind 
finished its work ^ and the country was ready for Mon- 
gol dominion. This was like Mongol dominion every- 
where — unenlightened, oppressive, bloody. Russia 
drank the bitter cup to the dregs. Her Grand Princes 
confessed dependence upon the Golden Horde, ^ both by 
tribute and by obedience.^ The size and endurance of 
Russia probably saved western Europe from devastation 
by the Mongol. While he was wearing himself out in 
the northern wilderness, lands farther west were gain- 
ing strength.^ Then waster met waster, and the Mongol, 
weakened by the Tartar pressing on his rear, possibly 
also weakened by a civilization he could neither assim- 
ilate nor understand, went down before the re-awaken- 
ing of Russian national spirit. To Ivan III fell the lot 
of leading that spirit. He did more than free the land. 
He encouraged men to come from cultured Europe to 
give his uncultured kingdom what they could not give 
themselves, statesmen, teachers, architects, engineers. 
More important still, he settled the Russian policy of 
consolidation. Ivan IV earned his surname, the Ter- 
rible, by unnumbered cruelties, ^° but, fortunately for 
his kingdom, was strong as well as cruel. ^^ The mad 
blow which killed his eldest son was fatal to his family 
and his line.^^ The blood of Rurik had reigned seven 
centuries. Its great achievement was the establishment 
of Russian unity. 

^ Added illustrations are the Holstein-Gottorps and the Ro- 
manoff-Oldenburgs in Russia ; the foreign kings of Poland ; the 
apparently natural course of Bohemia in election of Elector 
Frederick V of the Palatinate. 



RUSSIA. 225 

^"Our country," said the embassy to the Northmen, "is 
grand and fertile, but under the reign of disorder. Come and 
govern us and reign over us." 

* The agreement was that each of the three brothers should 
rule over a third of the people represented by the embassj^, each 
to aid all. Rurik took Novgorod as his capital, Sineous went 
northeast to Bielo Ozero, Truvor south to Truvor, near Smo- 
lensk. Tne triple kingdom of Russia was composed of the ter- 
ritories now constituting the provinces of St. Petersburg, Nov- 
gorod, and Pskov as now organized. 

*One of the greatest women in history. So worthy was her 
rule that for five centuries it was the standard by which good 
rule was measured. Her greatest single service was the intro- 
duction of Christianit}'^ into Russia. The historian Nestor calls 
Olga "the morning star of salvation for Russia." 

''In good autocratic fashion. Himself converted, he ordered 
everybody up for baptism, rich and poor, lord and slave. 
Vladimir superintended the operation. On signal every man, 
woman, and child waded out into the stream, some up to their 
necks, some waist deep. The priests read the prayers for bap- 
tism. Then the multitude were bidden to come out, and they 
who had stepped into the water barbarians stepped out Chris- 
tians. 

® Rurik confirmed a kind of feudalism. After he became sole 
ruler he organized his kingdom by provinces, whose governors 
were practically sovereign. Inheritance was by equal shares 
among male issue. The result was ceaseless division at cost of 
central power. There was therefore no one to keep back inva- 
sion. 

^The Mongol empire, after the death of Genghis Khan, broke 
up into independent hordes. The Golden Horde was one of 
these groups, with headquarters on the lower Volga. The Khan 
of the Golden Horde ruled Russia for two centuries. 

^The Khan took a barbarian's pleasure in compelling signs of 
submission. On the slightest complaint vassal Russians were 
summoned to the capital, or, if it suited his Mongolian majesty, 
to the heart of Asia, there to wait the master's pleasure, a week 
or a year, as suited his whim, and then receive warning or chas- 
tisement. The shame is that many Russsian chiefs gave them- 



226 RUSSIA. 

selves body and soul to the foreigner to insure their own good 
at cost of their country's. 

''No slight service. What might have been the fate of the 
western world is suggested by the experience of Constantinople 
and by the fact that the Turks were a constant menace, hang- 
ing on near Vienna till near the incoming of the 17th century. 
If Russia had never done another thing, this would have earned 
large praise — that she held back the Mongol terror while the 
Occident was getting its growth. 

'^ For instance, giving nobles to be torn in pieces by dogs, cut- 
ting down offenders with his own hand, wholesale executions 
with every accompaniment of horror, mutilations accomplished 
in bursts of passion. 

*^ Ragozin suggests that Ivan be pictured b}' a composite of 
Tiberius, Louis XI, and Richelieu, '* not only with their horri- 
ble individual instincts and qualities, but also with their very 
real greatness of political genius, statesmanship, and patriot- 
ism." So this "wpll-nigh monstrous historical figure" may 
be figured in his accomplishment of Russia's needed work, 
national aggrandizement, and royal supremacy, as against a 
turbulent nobility. 

^'^ The eldest son was a man of promise. Feodor was a devotee, 
but no sovereign, though he was on the throne fourteen years. 
The infant Dimitri was slain. 



SKC. 3. A NEW LINK. 

Four decades of disorder followed the death of Ivan 
the Terrible. Then the nobles, forced into agreement 
by peril of national extinction, raised to the throne 
Michael Romanoff.^ At first reaction seemed inevitable.^ 
The policy of a half century before had brought enlight- 
enment from without, but had also brought foreign 
customs for which Russia was not ready, foreign influ- 
ence, and political confusion. The first Romanoff was 
raised to the throne as a protest against all this. A de- 
scendant of Rurik in the female line, he was yet in new 



RUSSIA. 227 

and special sense Russian, a product of the conservatism 
of Russia, a representative of old-time wa5's. But all 
this, happil}^ ended not in reaction, but in steadiness. 
Internal improvements were carried forward. Com- 
merce was restored. Relations were undertaken with 
the European governments, among which hitherto 
Russia had not been counted.^ Two measures since 
recognized as part of the settled program for Russia 
were forwarded : the advance upon Constantinople * and 
the enlargement of Russian territory on the east to the 
Pacific/ 

^ Michael seems to have been really elected, aud that by a 
fairly representative national assembly. High ecclesiastical 
dignitaries, nobles or their delegates, and representatives of the 
men-at-arms, the merchants, the towns, and the districts com- 
posed the assembly. The Czar-elect was a 'Prussian Slav in his 
father's line, a descendant of Rnrik in his mother's. The strain 
of royal blood counted much in Michael's elevation, no doubt., 
but far more potent was his relation to the clergy. The clergy, 
rather than royalty, had of late stood for order. Young Michael's 
father was Metropolitan, a man of distinguished virtue, appar- 
ently meriting all the good opinion of the people, which he be- 
yond question enjoyed. Further mark of confidence the people 
gave their religious chief by placing the government in his hands 
during the minority of his son. 

■^The nobles insisted upon reducing the royal power to a 
shadow. Arbitrary power in the czarship had wrought personal 
ill to many. Now there should be no more of it. Michael 
found his office surrounded by so many restrictions that it was 
hard to see how his responsibilities were to be discharged. His 
oath required him to protect the Greek religion and to govern 
according to the laws. At the same time it prohibited him from 
making w^ar or peace at his own will, and from making new laws 
or altering the old. It was the swing of the pendulum— from 
absolutism in the monarch to absolutism in the subject. 

3 War relations of a serious kind had long been entertained 
with Sweden , so far greatly to the advantage of the Swede. Now 



228 RUSSIA. 

negotiations were entered into with both England and France, 
both countries seeking trade routes to the Bast through Russia, 
France also proposing political alliance. l/ouis XIII was on the 
throne. To him Michael sent, soliciting aid against Poland and 
Sweden. Fourteen years afterward, in 1629, a French ambas- 
sador appeared at Moscow,seeking commercial passage to Persia, 
with promise of political cooperation in the background. ' ' His 
Czarian Majesty," said the Frenchman, "is the head of Eastern 
countries and the orthodox faith ; Louis, King of France, is the 
head of Southern countries, and the Czar, by contracting a friend- 
ship and alliance with him, will get the better of his enemies. 
As the Emperor is allied to the King of Poland, the Czar must 
be allied to the King of France. These two princes are every- 
where glorious ; they have no equalseither in strength or power ; 
their subjects obey them blindly, while the English and the men 
of Brabant are obedient only when they choose." Trade ad- 
vantage, too, was urged. "The latter, Brabanters, bu^^ their 
wares in Spain, and sell them to the Russians at a high price, 
but the French will furnish them with everything at a reason- 
able rate." One almost regrets to record that such glowing 
rhetoric failed to dazzle the Muscovite. 

* Already, a half century before, Ivan the Terrible seems to 
have had clear vision of RuSvSia's movement southward, a move- 
ment indeed in which Ivan himself took no small {)art. In 1547 
Ivan also took title Czar. Incidental proof that Czar is variation 
of Caesar, rather than offspring of Oriental titles of great- 
ness, is stout avowal of Ivan that " if Constantinople had been 
the second, Moscow was the third Rome, the living heir of the 
Eternal City." 

'" By exploration, conquest, and colonization. Progress east- 
ward was very rapid. In less than a century, indeed in little 
more than half a centur}'-, from the day Russian interest entered 
Siberia, Cossacks were bathing their horses' feet in the Pacific. 



RUSSIA. 229 



SEC. 4. PKTER THE GREAT. 

Russia's strong man was Peter the Great. He was 
one of the masterful figures of all time.^ He brought 
to his country just the service his country needed. 
Though a century and three-quarters dead, he still 
reigns.''^ Co-Czar with blind, weak-minded Ivan for 
seven years under Sophia, Ivan's sister, who ruled the 
two Czars and Russia, in 1689, when sixteen years old, 
he made good his claim to the throne.^ The new ruler 
was at once felt. He restored order, took first step 
toward making a nav}^ broke down practical independ- 
ence of nobles, reorganized the army.* With insight 
marking true greatness, he gathered about himself for- 
eign men ^ who could teach him and Russia what they 
needed to know. Most fundamental of all, he reformed 
the government, facing toward Europe. Relations with 
the western world were cultivated. To lessen depend- 
ence upon outside teachers, young Russians were sent 
abroad to learn the world's ways. Crowning all other 
effort, Peter himself went abroad. In Holland and in 
England he worked with his own hands, to win practi- 
cal knowledge of the trades he wished to introduce 
among his countrymen. Sweeping changes marked 
his return to Russia. The strelitzi^ were abolished. 
Taxation was substituted for old half-feudal dues. The 
calendar was conformed to that of western Europe.^ 
Flowing robe and beard were prohibited. Seclusion of 
women was ended. Opposition Peter met, of course, 
for the way of reform is never smooth. But despotism 
makes change easy, and Peter was a despot, doing his 
work in a despot's way.' Sweden taught him western 

32 



230 RUSSIA. 

methods of war,' as Holland and England had taught 
him western methods of industry. He improved on 
his instructions, turning the Baltic from a Swedish into 
a Russian lake. Constant outlook upon Europe he 
found in St. Petersburg. '° He checked the ambition of 
Poland. Partly by war, i5^rtly by diplomacy, he won 
further Caspian provinces from Persia. Better than 
enlarging, he consolidated and developed his dominions 
by internal improvements of vast extent and value. By 
his effort Russia became the mighty power of northern 
Europe, debarbarized if not yet in truest sense civil- 
ized.^^ 

^ ' * Peter found a small kingdom, he left it an immense empire. 
He conquered vast provinces from the conqueror of the age, and 
made them the center of his dominions, and out of their bogs 
he caused to spring up a sumptuous capital, unrivaled in Europe ; 
he was recognized as emperor and father of his people — as the 
mighty conqueror in Europe and Asia— and by the conquest of 
provinces in both quarters, it left him without a rival. All Eu- 
rope admired, courted, and respected Peter the Great ; his own 
nation both loved and feared him." "Take him for all in all, 
history will scarcely see his like again ; he appeared as a meteor 
in the world, dazzling in its brightness, fearful in its power, and 
eccentric in its orbit in his tremendous course through Russia. 
Peter cultivated her wastes and civilized her people beyond any 
monarch that had ever appeared amongst them, and so rapid 
were his movements that he seemed almost ubiquitous to his 
subjects, who were accustomed to say of him, ' God on high 
and the Czar not far off.' " 

^The bulk of Russia's politics since Peter's day, when ques- 
tioned, has justified itself by reference to the great emperor's 
purpose. What Peter willed must be good for Russia. In ap- 
peal to him argument ceases. 

^ Escaping as.sassination planned for him by his affectionate 
regent half-sister, whom now he disposed of finally by forcing 
her into a convent. The reign was joint with imbecile Ivan 
until the latter's death, in 1696. 



RUSSIA, 231 

*The military system consisted of the strelitzi, a kind of im- 
perial body-guard formed by Ivan the Terrible, a few regiments 
of soldiers in ordinary sense, and the mob of armed peasants 
called out by their lords at need. In place of all this, Peter 
began forming an army led and trained in western fashion. 
Peter himself set an example by passing through every grade of 
service from the lowest rank upward. 

^Hundreds of skilled workmen, artists, scientific men, mili- 
tary and naval experts from Kngland and Holland. Russia also 
profited largely by the exodus of French Huguenots after the 
Revocation of the Bdict of Nantes, Louis XIV thus uncon- 
sciously preparing trouble for Napoleon I. 

® Partly in punishment for new revolt, partly because through 
corruption and general worthlessness they had become a stand- 
ing peril to the crown. 

^ By shifting New Year's from September to January. The 
people regarded the change as impious. " How could New 
Year's fall in winter? " they asked. " The merest child could 
not sui)pose the world created in January, as the new calendar 
indicates, for apples are not ripe then, showing that Eve could 
not have been tempted except in the fall. Not only so, but God 
would be most likely to create the world at harvest time, when 
everything would be ripe for gathering," The Russian calendar 
follows Julian instead of Gregorian reckoning, and is conse- 
quently still twelve days slow. 

^ With his own hand sheared flowing sleeve and beard of re- 
luctant courtier, thereby, to horror of old-time Russian, defacing 
the face of Christ's anointed so as to make him unrecognizable 
by even his own Master. That hand was too heavy to make 
protest safe, and Peter's process of debarbarizing Russia went on , 

' At Narva 30,000 Russians perished at hand of Charles XII 
and his awful Swedes, News of the annihilation of his army 
was carried to Peter, "Very well," was the cool reply, "I 
know that the Swedes will have the advantage of us for a con- 
siderable time, but they will teach us, at length, to beat them." 

'° Peter was fond of saying that St. Petersburg was his window 
by which he looked out upon Europe, 

^^ With scarcely an exception, those who have studied the 
problem regard Russia's civilization as unhealthy because un- 
duly forced. Peter took everything that appealed to him on 



2-32 RUSSIA. 

his ceaseless travels and gave it to Russia. German, Dutch, 
English, French customs were forced upon Muscovite and 
Tartar irrespective of capacity or need. The present century 
has witnessed enormous advance, but Russia has not yet devel- 
oped herself. 



SEC. 5. THE AGE OF THE AMAZON. 

The three-quarters of a century following Peter's 
death was a mad medley of comedy and tragedy. First 
came Catharine I, a Livonian peasant,^ whom Peter had 
found at once maid and widow, and whose mastery of 
Peter had made her empress.^ Her reign of two years 
was vigorous, but too short to effect much. Peter II 
reigned three j^ears, a mere lad, and did nothing. Anne 
reigned eleven 3^ears and did much, especially extend- 
ing Russian influence into the Crimea. Elizabeth, 
Peter's own daughter, followed, and for twenty-one 
years proved herself her father's child — cruel, passion- 
ate, energetic, successful.^ Peter III did only one good 
thing in his life for Russia — goad his unscrupulous but 
able wife into rebellion by his maudlin imbecility, con- 
firming her on his throne by abdication and death.* 
Catharine II, 1 762-1796, was not one whit behind the 
Great Peter in ambition, lust, devotion, masterfulness. 
She united all elements of the empire — the clergy by 
her scrupulous piety, the nobles by her magnificence, 
the army by her splendid courage, the people by her 
steady oppression. She encouraged immigration,^ wel- 
comed scholarship,^ safe-guarded moralit}^ by imposing 
decrees, revised the laws," waged war,^ perfected Rus- 
sian diplomacy ; all this unhampered by her own un- 
bounded and unconcealed licentiousness ^ and her impe- 
riously despotic temper. Great, Wise, Prudent, Mother 



RUSSIA. 233 

of the Country, were names she bore proudly, the last 
most proudly of all. How well she deserved the title 
appears from the fact that her reign added nearly half 
a million square miles to the territory of Russia, several 
million inhabitants to the population of Russia, greatly 
increased efficiency of internal administration, and gave 
immense prestige to the nation. She had vices and 
virtues, neither few nor small. Unfortunately in judg- 
ing her we have to distinguish between the woman and 
the queen. As queen she ranks among the world's 
great rulers. As woman she must be left to the mercy 
of Heaven. Paul I, 1796-1801, was ignorant, inex- 
perienced, and probably more than half crazy.'" Even 
Russia could not stand him, and he was assassinated. 
Seventy-six years had passed since the Great Peter died. 
Sixty-eight of the seventy six had recorded the sway 
of woman. 

1 Peter found her after the storming of MMrienburg. Nearly 
all the unfortunate populace had perished in the assault. Among 
the survivors was a young girl of seventeen, married the night 
of the taking of the town to a young peasant, who seems to 
have been slain, with others, immediately after the nuptials- 
The Russian commander, struck by her beauty or her friend- 
lessness, took pity on her and protected her. Peter was com- 
pletely captivated by her,and, consultip.g only his own royal will, 
took her to himself, with or without marriage rites. To Peter's 
credit it must be addded that Catharine made him an invaluable 
wife, and he repaid her devotion by public marriage in 1712. 

nn 1724, seven months before Peter's death, Catharine was 
crowned in accordance with Peter's decision to leave the scepter 
in her hands, reposing confidence in her goodness and in the 
wisdom of her advisers. 

3 The march of Russia was the token of her energy and success. 
As to the rest Abbott says of her, " She was during her whole 
reign mainly devoted to sensual pleasure, drinkin;,; intoxicating 
liquors immoderatly, and surrendering herself to the most ex- 
traordinary licentiousness. Though ever refusing to recognize 



234 RUSSIA. 

the claims of marriage, she was the mother of several children, 
aud her favorites cannot easily be enumerated. She seemed to 
have some chronic disease of the humane feelings, which in- 
duced her to declare that not one of her subjects should during 
her reign be doomed to death, while at the same time, with the 
most gentle self-complacency, she could order the tongues of 
thousands to be torn out by the roots, could cut off the nostrils 
with red-hot pincers, could lop off ears, lips, and noses, and 
could twist the arms of victims behind them by dislocating 
them at the shoulders. There were tens of thousands of prison- 
ers thus horribly mutilated." 

* By assassination, almost certainl}^ with connivance, possibly 
at command, of his wife. 

'" Imperial proclamation offered free land to settlers from with- 
out, with transportation at cost of crown, and many privileges 
for thirty years. The roj^al invitation was largely accepted. 
Some German princelings were compelled to restrict the move- 
ment from their lands. France, Poland, and Sweden helped to 
swell the list. 

^The great mathematician, Euler, won from Berlin to St. 
Petersburg, was a brilliant example. Catharine believed that 
science and the arts were as necessary to the glor}'^ of a country 
as military renown. Her splendid faith in medical science she 
showed by being herself vaccinated for smallpox, while as yet 
the world was ill-prepared to believe in the safety of inoculation. 

^ Catharine's instructions to the assembly of revision em- 
bodied the following noble sentiments : " Laws should be framed 
with the sole object of conducting mankind to the greatest 
happiness. ' The liberty and security of the citizens ought to be 
the grand and precious object of all laws ; they should all tend 
to render life, honor, and property as stable and secure as the 
constitution of the government itself. It is incomparably better 
to prevent crimes than to punish them." 

^Enkindling the ardor of her soldiers b}- appearing herself 
sometimes at their head. 

^Made her passion a matter of state office. Her " favorite," 
magnificently provided for, was first officer of government. 
Twelve men in succession held the precarious post of favorite. 
When wearied of one, the Empress provided for him by some 
coveted foreign appointment, and he gave waj- to the next. 



RUSvSIA. 



235 



^°Set out to manage the empire as a private estate; capri- 
ciously altered the military establishment ; on the merest whims 
promoted or dismissed officers ; treated the ministers of state 
like so many lackeys ; restored the obsolete barbarism of sub- 
jects kneeling, though it be in snow or mud, on appearance of 
Czar, wife, or son ; bewildered the most loyal by number and 
contradictoriness of decrees ; even when he stumbled upon a 
worthy project, went so stupidly about his work that harm, not 
good, was wrought. One ghastly conceit, which showed no lack 
of wit, but only lack of heart, was among the earliest acts of 
Paul's reign. Exhuming the skeleton of his murdered father, 
he exposed it side by side with the remains of his deceased 
mother, letting them thus lie in state together, the two coffins 
enswathed with a wreath bearing the inscription, "Divided in 
life, united in death." 



SEC. 6. THK FIRST ALEXANDER AND THE FIRST 
NICHOLAS. 

The unhappy da3"S of Paul had been quickl}^ num- 
bered. Better dayvS came with his son and successor, 
Alexander I, 1801-1825. But it was no time of peace. 
The revolutionary propaganda of France, mightily set 
forward by Napoleon's wars, threatened all Europe. 
Alexander first fought, then enthusiastically backed, 
Napoleon. Brought to better and steadier mind by 
acquaintance with Napoleonic ambition, he threw Russia 
against French aggrandizement. The awful days of 
18 1 2 followed. At cost of the princely city of Moscow 
and several score thousand Russian lives, the Grand 
Army was broken and beginning made toward awaken- 
ing Europe from the Napoleonic nightmare. Russia 
was not wanting when the closing scenes of the great 
drama were played out. Nor was Russia wanting after- 
ward, taking liberal share of spoils at the Congress of 
Vienna,^ and leading European reaction in the Holy 



236 RUSSIA. 

Alliance, Disillusioned by contact with western poli- 
tics, Alexander grew despotic, and after having been 
hailed as savior of Russia and liberator of Europe, died 
hated and dreaded, both at home and abroad. 

Nicholas I, 182 5- 1855, signalized his accession by 
crushing a liberalist revolt.^ The reactionary policy in 
force since 18 15 was continued, and Russia stood in 
Europe as the bulwark of absolutism.^ Meanwhile 
momentous internal changes were taking place. The 
national consciousness awoke, involving important con- 
sequences : I . Effort was made to Russianize * non- 
Russian elements in the empire. Largest immediate 
result of this was incorporation of Poland, in name and 
in fact, which appears henceforth only as an adminis- 
trative division. 2. Eastward march was renewed. 
Persia, completel}^ beaten, jdelded two provinces and 
large money indemnity. 3. Russian heirship of Eastern 
Empire was emphasized. Main object was interference 
in southern politics on ground of headship of Greek 
Christendom. Nicholas was anxious to administer on 
the estate of the Turk, ^ if need be even at cost of taking 
everything for himself, but western Europe could not 
suffer such disinterestedness, and the Crimean war re- 
sulted,^ with immense loss to Russia and no gain to 
any one. 

^Napoleon had invoked the national spirit of the Poles by 
promise of a restored "Poland. Chiefly at cost of Prussia, the 
Duchy of Warsaw was formed. In the general distribution of 
spoil at Vienna, the land grabs of 1772, 1793, and 1795 were in- 
dorsed, and the provinces affected distributed about as originally 
taken. By a cruel farce, however, the remade Duchy of War- 
saw was recognized as the Kingdom of Poland, and the crown 
vested in the Emperor of Russia. So relations stood until the 
purging of 1831. 



RUSSIA. 237 

' The going and coming of the Napoleonic era brought Russia 
iu various ways into contact with western life. The effect could 
not but be great. Not a few sought change. When Nicholas 
succeeded his brother, these thought their time had come. They 
soon learned their mistake. Nicholas turned on them the very 
cannon which had saluted his coronation. The horror of the 
punishment meted out to the revolutionists is lightened some- 
what by. a ludicrous element in the situation. Nicholas had an 
oJder brother, Constantine, who would have been emperor but 
for his renunciation of the crown when he turned Catholic. The 
revolutionists wanted two things, Constantine and a constitu- 
tion. " Long live Constantine ! " they cried ; " the Constitution 
forever ! " But the combination was too much for the rank and 
file.. ** Constantine and the Constitution," they shouted as 
bidden, and then asked, " But who is this Constitution ? Is she 
Constantine's wife?" The leaders suffered either death or 
Siberia. 

^ It was Nicholas who in 1849 helped Austria crush the Hun- 
garian Republic set up under Kossuth. 

*The real aim is to assimilate all other t3'pes to the Muscovite 
or Great Russian. This process is the more interesting because 
of the unconcealed Russian sympathy with Panslavism. The 
ultimate goal of this is the embodiment in Russia of the smaller 
Slav states. One aim of Russian politics is to draw these at once 
within the sphere of Russian influence. The second step nat- 
urally is a protectorate ; the third, incorporation ; the fourth 
and following, Muscovisation. 

'Whatev^er the pretext, the hope of Russia in any difficulty 
with Turkey is the prize of Constantinople. Part of the Russian 
political creed is that possession of that city is the only true 
good. Until that good comes the Black Sea has no outlet. 
Apparently there only can an European ice-free port be won, 
and neither Port Arthur nor any other Asiatic harbor can be a 
substitute for European waterways. 

^ He tried to enlist England in a scheme for doing to Turkey 
what Catharine II had done to Poland. England was to have 
Candia and Egypt. Servia and Bulgaria were to be made autono- 
mous under Russian protection. Constantinople was not to fall 
to either — until Russia got ready to take it. 

33 



238 RUSSIA. 



SEC. 7. THK lyAST HALF CENTURY. 

Alexander II, 1S55-1881, hastened to make peace 
with England and France. Bj^ Treaty of Paris, Rus- 
sia relinquished protectorate of Greek Christianity and 
agreed to abolish her Black Sea fleet. But time is 
mightier than treaties. Within twent}^ years Russia 
was again fighting Turkey on behalf of Greek Chris- 
tians, and she is today the de facto head of the Greek 
Church, whether north or south of the Danube. She 
also has again a formidable fleet on the Black Sea. The 
former gain she owes to the logic of events.^ The lat- 
ter represents her profit from the Franco- Prussian war.^ 
More than for war, whether of faith or conquest, Alex- 
ander II is remembered for the emancipation of the 
serf, 1863.'' Landlord rights were bought up and the 
niir* was given freehold possession of land for its mem- 
bers, who must, however, pay redemption money for 
their holdings. After several abortive attempts. Nihil- 
ists succeeded in blowing the Emperor to pieces with a 
bomb, 1 88 1. 

Alexander III, 1881-1894, found the empire impov- 
erished by his father's unfruitful wars and honey- 
combed with liberalist treason, especially Nihilism. 
Turned from constitutional reform ^ by a Nihilistic 
manifesto forced upon him at the critical and wrong 
moment, he gave himself diligently to the task of bring- 
ing back the glorious reactionary days of Nicholas I. 
A singularly strong parallelism unites these reigns, sep- 
arated by the reign of the Czar Liberator. i. The 
Russianization of the empire was taken up afresh. 
** Russia for the Russians" .was the Imperial watch- 
word. Whatever stood in the way^Jewism, Finland- 



RUSSIA. 239 

ism, Germanism, Polandism — must yield. 2. The prin- 
ciple of autocracy was reaffirmed. Education was 
restricted. The press was savagely repressed. Censor- 
ship was made more strict. Freedom of speech was 
barred. The good old days of Nicholas had indeed 
come back, when " there was silence in all languages 
from the Ural to the Pruth . ' ' One voice only was heard , 
the voice of the Emperor, sic volo, sic jubeo. 3. The 
absorption of Asia went on, bringing Russia clear up to 
Afghanistan. On the Black Sea, Batouni, its most im- 
portant harbor, guaranteed free by the Treaty of Berlin, 
was quietly turned into a Russian arsenal in accordance 
with traditional Russian policy, to do the desired thing, 
apologize, and — hold on. One special service Alexan- 
der III did the world. Whether because he really 
hated war or because he feared that war would hinder 
his policy, he kept the peace of Europe.^ 

Nicholas II, 1894-, has so far justified hopes of a 
good reign. True, the Slavophil creed of autocracy,' 
Greek orthodoxy, and Russian nationality^ has not 
been changed. Finland may sigh for even the hard 
days of Alexander III, because worse have befallen her. 
Pressure upon China, increasing every year, and the 
recently effected mortgage on Persia point to unremit- 
ting effort in the East. But the new Czar has shown 
unmistakable sympathy for liberal ideas, not only by 
the entente with France and cordial relations with the 
other powers, but, to the joy of the world, more yet by 
the organization of the Peace Conference at the Hague. 

^ As the big member of the Slav family Russia, with or with- 
out law, must be counselor and defender of all other members. 
She could not help this if she would. So far as indications go, 
she is by no means averse to the responsibility. 

^ There was no one to prevent, and Prince Gortschakoff in- 



240 RUSSIA. 

formed the various governments that while his Imperial Master 
felt infinite regret at breaking an agreement which he had ac- 
cepted only under compulsion, he yet felt obliged to deviate 
from the stipulation of the Treaty of Paris so far as to do as he 
pleased about increasing his Black Sea fleet. 

'Serfage had come about by degrees. The free peasantry, 
finding the burden of supporting the warrior element more and 
more oppressive, got in the way of changing location frequentU'' 
to escape taxes. The government then bound them to the soil. 
This put them virtually into the power of the land-owning 
nobles. Lands were assigned the serfs for their support, and 
about half their time was allowed for the tillage of these, the 
other half going to the proprietor. In many cases mone3^ com- 
pensation was accepted for this half-time service. On the crown 
lands money compensation was universal. Emancipation gave 
the serf his personal liberty and the possession of real property 
under the provisions of the redemption scheme. As a basis of 
capitalization, sixteen times the customary money compensation 
constituted the redemption price. The government undertook 
to advance the greater part of this to the peasant, to be repaid 
in forty-nine annual installments. 

*The village commune, to which every man belonged. The 
commune owned the land, grazing the pasture in common and 
assigning the tillage at regular intervals. The houses were in- 
dividual property, together with the bits of garden adjoining, 
and were clustered together apart from both tillage and pasture 
groups. 

^It is stated on what seems to be good authority that Alexan- 
der II had determined to proclaim a constitution ; that, indeed, 
the proclamation was signed the very day before his assassina- 
tion. The new Czar had favored the measure, and was disposed 
to regard the proclamation as part of his father's will. Without 
waiting, however, to see what the new Czar would do, the 
Nihilists stupidly formulated demands, with the result that 
matters took their old course. 

•Three days after his accession he addressed a circular note, 
saying: "The foreign policy of the Emperor will be entirely 
pacific. Russia will remain faithful to her friends. She will 
unchangeably preserve the sentiments consecrated by tradition, 
and will at the same time reciprocate the friendliness of all 



RUSSIA. 241 

states by a similar attitude, while maintaining the position to 
which she is entitled among the powers and assuring the main- 
tenance of the political equilibrium. In accordance with her 
interests, Russia will not deviate from her mission, in common 
with other governments, to protect the general peace based upon 
respect for right and treaties." 

^ In Januar}', 1895, the new Czar, receiving homage and con- 
gratulations from his subjects all over the empire, declared to 
the representatives that he should maintain the principle of 
autocracy as firmly as his father had. 

^Everything must bend to that, even the word of the Czar. 
"The prosperity of the nations rests on right and equity." So 
spake Nicholas II in his famous Peace Rescript. But this noble 
sentiment was uttered just after promulgation of ukase depriv- 
ing Finns of rights guaranteed them by most solemn assurances 
repeated by four Czars, including Nicholas himself. 



SEC. 8. POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. 

Politically the Gzar is Russia.^ It is not the admin- 
istrative center alone that is enclosed within the imperial 
offices at St. Petersburg : legislation, justice, authority 
for all Russia walk or stand or sit there in the person of 
the Emperor. Institutions are but the embodiment of 
his will.'^ Distances and differences count nothing. For 
the Baltic, the Danube, the Caucasus, the Ural slope, 
Turkistan, Siberia, Bering Strait, as for the Neva, the 
word of the Czar is law. This is the startling paradox 
of Russia — a nation modern in literature, in war, in 
diplomacy, in government the rigidest kind of autocracy. 
But ev^en the will of a czar must have organs. They 
are as follows: i. Four great councils or imperial 
bureaus, dealing with general problems. ( i ) The Com- 
mittee of Ministers, a modified cabinet. (2) The Coun- 
cil of Empire, a consulting committee on legislation. 
(3) The Ruling Senate, a quasi-judicial body, through 
which laws are promulgated, and constituting a kind of 



242 RUSSIA. 

supreme court. (4) The Holy Synod, a college of high 
ecclesiastical functionaries. Membership in these coun- 
cils depends, like everything else in Russia legally, upon 
the will of the Czar. 2. Administration is carried on in 
the large by governments or provincial departments. In 
a few cases old national lines have been retained, though 
national names have been obliterated. Of these '* gov- 
ernments " the European division has sixty, including 
the Polish ten ; the Asiatic division four, with several 
territorial organizations in process of perfecting. 3. 
Local administration admits a popular element — inform. 
Each "government" has a provincial assembly, and 
the districts composing the "government" have dis- 
trict assemblies ; the cantons or volosts have their assem- 
blies, and the political unit, if the term may be so abused, 
the mir^ or commune, is a neighborhood corporation. 
Anything like independence, as measured from above, 
is promptly annihilated in the various assemblies, in- 
cluding the municipal organizations of cities and towns, 
and their function is not free government, but the ac- 
complishment of the all-pervading will of the Czar. 
Throughout the entire series the one all-important man 
is the Czar's man, whether governor general, district 
lieutenant, judge, policeman, or, indispensable factor, 
the tax-gatherer. The political system has the defects 
of its excellencies. Everything proceeds to one hand — 
obediences, service, money, produce ; and everything 
from the same hand — protection, justice, improvements, 
bounties ; but up to date that hand has been more skilled 
to get than to give. 

* For a century and three-quarters Russia has been perfecting 
the administrative system of Peter the Great. Before his time 
little or no attempt was made to secure uniformity. While exer- 
cising autocratic power, the successive Grand Princes and Czars 



RUSSIA. 243 

were well content to use institutions as they found them when 
they won new land, so far as those institutions served the con- 
quering will at Moscow. The result was a multitude of local 
regulations and a modicum of general legislation. The great 
Peter, logical, energetic, strong-handed, could not stand this. 
The ground partly cleared already, he swept away the cumbrous 
Old system, and in its place set a bureaucratic machine which 
he fondly believed to be a reproduction of first-rate western po- 
litical organization. It was no holiday task Peter undertook, to 
invest those half orientals with western uniform, and the imme- 
diate results would have been ludicrous had not Peter's tremen- 
dous will made the disposition to laugh too serious a matter to 
be trifled with. So Russia endured and wore western clothes, 
read western books, listened to western teachers, got beaten into 
western ways of doing things, toiled, sweat blood, and is now 
the greatest single factor in western politics. 

^ The autocratic monarch, " who has to give an account of his 
acts to no one on earth, but has a power and authority to rule 
his states and lands as a Christian sovereign according to his 
own will and judgment." So spake Peter himself. No one 
doubts that Peter was true to his own theory. Since Peter that 
theory has been taught as the main enouncement of Russia's 
political gospel. The one thing the western student has to 
guard against is the impression that the consulting councils at 
St. Petersburg and the assemblies of the different departments 
mean much the same as the parliaments and congresses of the 
west. They may apportion upon themselves taxes and road 
dues, but the first hint of independence meets paternal rebuke, 
enforced, if need be, by the tingling delight of the birch rod, 
calling back to the true theory of council and assembly as reg- 
istering boards for the imperial will. 

3 The distinctively national feature. The mir or commune is 
composed of more or fewer families, as the case may be, and is 
jointly responsible for the taxes levied on the individuals com- 
posing it. The land of the commune is owned in common, but 
is periodically allotted to members. Hovel and garden patch 
may be, usually are, matters of individual ownership. In the 
management of purely mir affairs there is seldom any interfer- 
ence from without. The village assembly, composed of heads 
of households and presided over by the village elder, has all the 
power there is— a kind of Russian town meeting. 



244 RUSSIA. 

The fact should not be forgotten that the mir is an agricultural 
institution. So far Russia has been preeminently an agricult- 
ural country. With enlarging commercial ambitions, serious 
questions arise concerning the future of this unitary organiza- 
tion. 



SKC. 9. SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS BACKGROUND. 

The one universal social principle is the imperial will. 
Mad Czar Paul expressed a larger truth than even he 
realized when he declared social distinction to depend 
upon relation to royalty.^ This all-pervading principle 
goes far to modify the rigidness of the social hierarchy.'^ 
Something more than the shell of facts must therefore 
be kept in mind. Spirit is more than material fact, and 
especially in Russia the inner significance must be reck- 
oned. Certain considerations ma}^ be recorded, speak- 
ing now only for Russia in Europe, i. There is a 
social hierarchy which in form is complete. ( i ) Nobil- 
ity, numbering less than 2 per cent of population. 
(2) Clergy, numbering two-thirds as many. (3) Urban 
class — tradesmen, merchants, mechanics, townspeople, 
rapidly increasing, but probably not even now over 10 
or 15 per cent of the population. (4) Rural class, 
including Cossacks, over 80 per cent of the whole. 
2. The whole again falls into two groups, the line of 
cleavage marked by privilege. (i) The privileged 
order — nobility, clergy, and choicest of urban class. 
(2) Non-privileged — less favored urbans and great 
rural body. 3. Only in most limited sense is there a 
middle class. 4. The hierarchy resulted from deliber- 
ate organization, not working exemptions but distribut- 
ing burdens. 5. Beyond limited recognition of royal 
blood, the patent of honor is service. The office enno- 
bles the functionary. 6. Thus noble, cleric, burgher, 



RUSSIA. 



245 



peasant are equally the Czar's men, serving him and 
the state according to their place and means/ 

Religion holds large place in Russian life. Its com- 
mon form is that of the Greek Church, whose traditional 
forms are observed with punctilious devotion. The 
great bulk of the European population belongs to the 
established church, the Czar necessarily so. Dissent- 
ers,* Catholics, and Jews have suffered much, but other 
non-conformists,^ while subjected to political and social 
discouragement and forbidden to proselyte, in the main 
have been let alone, so far as law is concerned. The 
Czar is administrative head of the church, supervising 
its affairs by the Holy Synod, his own State Committee 
on ecclesiastical interests. Dogma he does not touch ; 
but, like other faithful believers, he accepts what the 
church itself teaches. The Russian predominance in 
numbers makes the Czar naturally the protector of the 
entire body of Greek Christians, as well as titular head 
of the Russian Church, so that religion may be added 
to the sources of imperial power. 

^ Paul I was asked who was the most important personage in 
the empire— of course, after the Czar. He rephed, "The man 
with whom I am speaking and for so long as I am speaking with 
him." 

'The theory is that the Czar's appointment confers nobility. 
Every new man, therefore, contributes his part toward keeping 
even aristocracy democratic. 

' A marvel of political organization for its time was Peter's 
Table of Ranks. For the family hierarchy of his predecessors 
Peter substituted a hierarchy classified by individual service. 
Those who had served the state before were still bound to serv- 
ice. Only instead of owing his official grade to honor of birth— 
i. ^?., the merit of ancestors— each owed his honor to the post he 
filled—/, e., to his own value to the state. The Table of Ranks 
recognized fourteen classes and covered Russia's entire official 
world. Military grades as most noticeable are normative. 

34 



246 RUSSIA. 

Civil and ecclesiastical functions are assimilated to military. 
Of course, officialdom does not embrace the entire population. 
Below the fourteenth class is still " the people." 

* Dissenters form .a class by themselves in Russia. They are 
not heretics, but schismatics. The great schism dates from 
1666. Their body is a standing protest against a changed ritual 
in the Greek Church. They thus claim to be more orthodox 
than the orthodox themselves. They are believed to number 
not fewer than 12,000,000, and are among the most promising 
of the Russian population. 

^Gregorians, Lutherans, Calvinists, Anglicans, Mennonites, 
Separatists, Pietists, Mohammedans from outside, in addition to 
Catholics and Jews already mentioned, and numerous Russian 
sects. 

SEC. 10. ri:sume:. 

After six centuries of experimentation in war, gov- 
ernment, and religion, during which she suffered all 
the horrors of anarchy, foreign bondage, and unsettled 
faith, Russia under Peter the Great entered the circle 
of European nations. Compelled by the strong hand 
of Peter and the scarcely less strong hands of Elizabeth 
and Catharine, she put on western manners, if not west- 
ern thought, and fought her way to immense dominion. 
The present century has remained true to the traditions 
of the last. Unappeasable hunger for land has added 
province to province, kingdom to kingdom, empire to 
empire. The Czar, as father of the people, has not 
hesitated to make offering of his children; as owner of 
the soil, has been ever ready to spend its harvest, if 
thereby the Russia's name and domain might be fur- 
thered. And the Russian name and the Russian do- 
main have been furthered : i. The headship of the 
Slav race has been seciired beyond question. 2. A 
defensible frontier has been outlined on the west. 3. 
The numberless principalities have been welded into 



RUSSIA. 247 

unity. 4. Water outlet has been won on the Bahic, 
in part on the Black Sea, and latterly, with large promise 
of more, on the Pacific.^ 5. Workino^ from the center, 
national defense has been secured by ever-enlarging 
circles of conquest. 6. Notable beginnings have been 
made toward a worthy internal development.^ The 
result up to date is the largest continuous empire the 
world has ever seen, second only to the British in abso- 
lute extent ; peopled by nearly a hundred and twenty 
different nationalities aggregating a population of a 
hundred and twenty millions ; garrisoned by an army of 
two and a half millions, backed by a reserve composed 
of practicall}' every able-bodied man in the empire,^ 
with good store of battleships;* in diplomacy, litera- 
ture, war, strictly up to date ; in political development, 
fully two centuries behind the times. 

^ So with unceasing effort Peter's will has been done. " It is 
not land I want," he was accustomed to say ; " it is not land I 
want, but water." The ocean could not come to Russia, so 
Russia has gone to the ocean. 

-The chief reason why improvement is not more apparent lies 
in sparseness of population. Russia has still to be populated. 
Up to time of Catharine II the fixed policy was to fill up newly 
acquired territory southward and eastward by colonization from 
Great Russia. The boundaries under Catharine were pushed 
out so rapidly that White Russia could not keep up. Then it 
was that Catharine advertised for settlers. The inflow was large, 
but acquisitions were larger still, and to this day great portions 
of the empire are nearly unsettled. The peace policy of Alex- 
ander III, continued so far by Nicholas II, has made possible 
large home expenditure, some of which will bring in hundred- 
fold returns within the next two decades. 

^ Barring the usual professional exceptions — physicians, clergy- 
men, teachers — all men are responsible for five years of active 
service, thirteen years of service in the first reserve, and five in 
the second reserve. 

* One of the four leading naval powers after England, which, 
of course, by her navy stands in a class wholly by herself. 



248 RUSSIA. 



SEC. II. WHAT OF THE FUTURE? 

It is easy to prophesy after the event. So much in 
Russia's history is still unshaped that forecasts are more 
than usually hazardous. Moreover, all forecasts hitherto 
have been overpassed by marvelous achievement. If 
states were always preserved by the same means that 
made them, outlining the future would be easy ; but the 
rule is more honored in the breach than in the observ- 
ance. The three-fold process of past centuries will 
doubtless still work, but almost certainly with readjust- 
ment of emphasis. Consolidation and extension have 
gone on simultaneously, and have greatly overweighed 
development. The limits of normal expansion must be 
nearly reached. Hard as the task of enlargement has 
been, the task of use will be harder. Russia has built 
a huge empire. Can Russia make that empire great ? 
Suggestive of the difficulties in the way may be noted 
the following : i. Ecclesiastical organization of hostile 
faiths under an established church system. 2. The 
fusing of nationalities whose territorial lines may be 
obliterated, but whose spirit is slow to die.^ 3. The 
exhaustion of tillage soil by wasteful agricultural 
methods."^ 4. Poverty, apparently incurable under 
present conditions, in face of increasing public ex- 
penditure. There is a limit to the power, even of 
Russia, to squeeze blood from a stone. 5. Ignorance 
in the mass, dangerously supplemented by a radical 
school-proletariat. 6. Intemperance and allied vices, 
encouraged by governmental monopoly of liquor trade. '^ 
7. Abnormal mythopoetic* faculty. 8. Overgrown and 
corrupt bureaucracy.^ 9. Probable interference with 
other powers in pursuit of Pan-Slavic aspirations.^ lo. 



RUSSIA. 249 

Inevitable reckoning with liberal ideas.'' Russia's su- 
preme test is yet to be met. Her power to aggregate 
peoples and lands is already proved. Can she turn 
that aggregation into an organism, proving the Slav the 
Teuton's equal or superior in nation-building? The 
twentieth century must answer. 

^ The crux of the problem Hes here. " Pohsh heart and 
soul, Russian by the fate of war " is the voice still of the north- 
west. Poland has not forgotten. Finland has not forgotten. 
A hundred other conquered states have not forgotten. The pro- 
cess of Russification is proceeding rapidly, quite to the satisfac- 
tion of Russia, say the official reports. But the official reports 
say there are a million dissenters, and men who think they know 
say there must be at least twelve times a million. There may 
be more national spirit in the Russified provinces than official 
records show. Russia still standsgreatly by herself. The censor 
is still very busy. The stupidities of Mad Paul's prohibition 
will not be repeated, when he forbade his subjects to read or 
speak of the revolution of the heavenly bodies, so greatly did 
he hate the word revolution, especially with French attach- 
ments. None the less, a government which has to safeguard 
itself by forbidding its subjects to read what the world is doing 
is bound to have a hard task in the new century, and is likely 
to have something more serious than Nihilism on its hands. 
The British Empire contains not fewer nationalities than Russia 
and rules more than three times Russia's population, and was 
never so strong aS it is today, not only by force, but by loyalty. 
British rule would fare ill in the Russian agglomeration, and up 
to date Russian rule has probably been the best Russia could 
have had. There is a question, however, whether the discipline 
of despotism will avail forever. 

2 Adaptation to new conditions is one of the finest tests of 
political capacity. Russia must needs be something more than 
an agricultural empire. The peasant now can leave the factory 
in the farming season to harvest his crop. With industrial 
competition pressing manufacture, this will be no longer pos- 
sible. Not only must many industries be developed, but agri- 
culture itself must be revised. 



250 RUSSIA. 

' Between a quarter and a third of the imperial revenue is 
derived from the excise on spirits. 

*This is much better than saying that misrepresentation is a 
common fault. A man may misreport a circumstance and not 
be guilty of common-place lying. He reports the circumstance 
as he saw it — he simply saw it wrong. In dealing with out- 
siders, whatever may be his veracity toward his own people, 
the Russian is very likely to see things wrong. The marvel- 
ous success of Russian diplomacy may be in part due to the 
unusual mythopoetic development. 

^Beyond question, one explanation for this should be sought 
in the imposition of a borrowed S3'stem upon a people not ready 
for it. The Russian Bureaucracy is more German than Rus- 
sian. It is little strange if its importation has resulted in some 
ill. 

^Particularly Austria and Turkey. 

^ Russia has cast her lot with the west. Every year binds her 
closer to western interests. Even her Oriental gains will be 
administered from the west, be it from St. Petersburg or from 
Moscow. Her success must be measured by western standards. 
Western ideas cannot be permanently excluded. The French 
peasant was racked into as complete subjection as his Russian 
brother shows. None the less, autocracy in France had finally 
to reckon with an awakened people. The new ideas worked all 
the more powerfull}^ in the peasant mind because there was little 
else there to work. History is forever repeating itself, though 
not often in the same land. Liberal ideas need not produce 
revolution. It is repression that produces revolution. It is not 
wise to lock the safety-valve. Explosion is liable to follow. 
Emancipation has come to Ru'^sia. Partial toleration has come 
also. The order of the day everywhere is toward constitutional 
government, with freedom of conscience and of thought. No 
man who loves his fellows will wish to see Russia behind her 
sister nations in anything that constitutes good government, or 
will desire the changes which must come to her, as they have 
come to all nations that aspire to modern leadership, to be at- 
tended by violence. Political reform has been delayed in Rus- 
sia. There is good reason to hope that it is now coming, and 
that it is coming in peace. 



CHAPTER XII. 



The German Empire. 



SEC. I. GERMANY BEFORE WESTPHALIA. 

The history of Germany is less the history of a 
nation than of a race. The foundations He back in 
the centuries when Rome was educating her barbarian 
neighbors to supplant her in the government of the 
world. But those early centuries must be passed with 
a word. The partition of Verdun in 843 gave promise 
of national organization. The promise was not real- 
ized, perhaps because there was no national leader, 
perhaps because the world was not yet shaken free 
from the dream of universal empire. Instead of na- 
tional life came the political chaos of feudalism.^ Then, 
entailing nine centuries of woe to Germany, when the 
leader arose' dream of universal dominion returned, 
and German unity was bartered for a phantom. Suc- 
cessive steps may be noted as follows : i. Preparation. 
This includes the tutelage of Rome, struggle with the 
outer ring of barbarism, settlement of relations with 
West Franks on their way to be Frenchmen. 2. Segre- 
gation. The Treaty of Verdun did not make, it simply 
recorded, the results of a process long since in opera- 
tion. 3. Organization. With Italy the German lands 
constituted the Holy Roman Empire. The joint organ- 

• 35 (251) 



252 ■ THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 

ization worked political ill to both countries, as was 
inevitable, making real national life impossible for 
either. 4. Disintegration. The bitter contest between 
Empire and Papacy resulted in disaster, followed by 
overthrow of Empire. The interregnum, 1254-1273, 
was a period of total eclipse. 5. Redintegration. Im- 
perial aggrandizement had been intolerable, so the Em- 
pire was crushed ; imperial effacement was impossible, 
so the Empire was restored. Compelled thereto by 
the pope, the electors chose an emperor, consulting 
their duty ; consulting also their interest, they took 
care that the emperor should not be strong. Resulting 
conflict enlarged the territories of the new imperial 
line, '^ whose increasing strength in their own dominions 
shed luster upon the imperial crown. 5. Dissolution. 
Ecclesiastical breach wrought political change.^ The 
Thirty Years War, 1618-1648, ended in the practical 
breaking up of the Empire. 

^ And yet it is fair to ask what other organization was possi- 
ble for the time and place ? Most of our severer judgments of 
the past are due to a point of view and a standard which repre- 
sent later and larger development. We abhor fendalism. The 
modern political spirit would make feudalism impossible. But 
feudalism was developed before the modern political spirit had 
been thought of. It is losing sight of this important fact that 
allows us to wonder as we do at the thousand and one sovereign 
lordlings of the mediaeval period. But when we ask what substi- 
tute was possible, conditions being as thej'- were, answer is 
difficult. For the time and place, feudalism was inevitable. 
Possible, perhaps the only possible, political training for the 
age was thereby provided, opening into better things later. 

^Otho the Great, 912-973, King of Germany from 936, Holy 
Roman Emperor from 962, the next really sizable figure after 
Charlemagne. In him ambition was matched b}- ability. Un- 
fortunately, instead of seeking to be king of a united and strong 
Germany, he sought the imperial crown, dcvStined through so 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 



253 



niauy centuries to make a united and strong Germany impossi- 
ble. The missing of Otho's great opportunity forms one of the 
most brilliant but most pathetic chapters of the Holy Roman 
Empire. 

^The Hapsburgs M^ere Swabian, named from old castle of 
Habichtsburg in Switzerland. Rudolph, forced into promi- 
netice by election to imperial dignity, took several important 
territories, Austria, St}-ria, Carniola, from Ottacar of Bohemia, 
who had worked diligently for the crown himself and who re- 
fused to acknowledge the new emperor. Oddly enough, the 
Swiss possessions were lost to the family, while the newly ac- 
quired lands, notably Austria, became the nucleus of an empire. 

*The Universal Church and the Universal Empire exactly 
matched in idea. Until men learned to distinguish between 
church and state, the two ideas, whatever the practice, must 
grow and decline together. The Reformation proved as great 
a subversion of the Empire as of the Papacy. 



SEC. 2. THE AUSTRIAN HEGEMONY. 

The one element of unbroken German power after 
tlie interregnum was Austria. The house of Austria 
waxed great. As time went on the policy became fixed 
that the headship of the Empire could be filled only from 
that house. Presently the Empire became a mere ap- 
panage of Austria. So it was long before the Treaty 
of Westphalia. After Westphalia the Empire was Aus- 
tria. Within the nominal empire was a confederacy, 
real though lax. Theory remained as before. Only 
the facts had changed. So men went on talking of the 
Empire as if Charlemagne or Otho were still living, ap- 
parently oblivious of the fact that instead of a German 
State there were now only German states. Organism 
there was none, only an aggregation.^ 

Among these states Austria was the largest and by 
far the strongest. Long enjoyment of the imperial 



254 '^H^ GKRMAN EMPIRE. 

crown in a way added right to power, consecrating her 
headship of the German body. It was an undefined 
sort of headship — the honorary presidency of a body 
which had no effective organization^ and no common 
life.'' Still Austria held it with tenacious grasp, and 
for a century and a half there was no one to dispute 
her claim. The Napoleonic chaos destroyed even the 
semblance of German order.* After the Congress of 
Vienna matters took their old course. The German 
states whose remains could be found were reconsti- 
tuted, but the entire number was now only thirty-nine^ 
as against more than three hundred formerly. Yet not 
quite the old course was taken, for the thirty-nine states 
were formally united into a Confederation® with equal 
rights and sovereignty guaranteed to participants, and 
a General Diet which was actually to meet. The presi- 
dency was Austria's, as of yore, but under the hand of 
Metternich,^ the presidency now meant political con- 
trol, inuring to the profit of Austria. This continued a 
half century, until Austrian pretensions were given 
final answer at Sadowa in 1866. 

^ One would have to look far and hard to find a more barren 
period of history than that of Germany during the centur}' and 
a half from Westphalia to the French Revolution. Here and 
there a bright spot appears, but the period as a whole was an 
historical wilderness, pettiness, imitation, selfishness ruling in 
high places and low. 

■^ The Diet got about all the imperial power. So far, however, 
from being a strong controlling body, in real sense representing 
a national will, it was composed of representatives of the princes 
and cities, who took care not to trouble the different states, and 
wasted time in legislative nothings. Local diets either ceased 
to exist or became mere machinery in the hands of the princes. 
The result was marked increase of absolutism. 

'The spectacle of several score princelings, each wringing 
from a submissive peasantry the maintenance of a miniature 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 255 

Versailles— brilliant, heartless, wicked— is worse even than the 
ceaseless wars of Frederick the Great. It is better for men to 
fight and be slain than to rot. Even if among the inter-neigh- 
borly bickerings there had been a sense of something worth a 
fight, it would have gone far to redeem the age. But it was not 
there. Truckling to foreign influence, imitation of foreign ways, 
reproduction of foreign vice, with Hans paying all bills not met 
by foreign pensions, that was the best Germany could do for a 
hundred years. 

* Unless appearances go for nothing, Napoleon took delight 
in heaping insult upon his hapless neighbors. His amazing dis- 
regard of sovereign rights and national feelings is surpassed only 
by the still more amazing subservience of sovereigns and nations. 

^The reduction an unlooked-for blessing to Germany and. 
Europe, political regeneration unconsciously furthered thereby. 

^ Each of the 39 states was to be independent and autonomous, 
so far as internal affairs were concerned. Only matters of com- 
mon interest were subject to cognizance of Bund. The Diet, 
composed of a representative from each state, met at Frankfort. 
To the Diet came all matters in dispute among different states, 
all questions of war and alliance likely to work ill to neighbors. 
See sec. lo. 

^ Who gave a third of a century to able and successful tliwart* 
ing of the liberal awakening in Europe, the leading exponent 
of absolutism, and foremost foe of German good lest Germany's 
gain be Austria's loss. 



SEC. 3. BEGINNINGS OF PRUSSIA. 

Prussia is the Slavonic ^ name of a Teutonic '^ king- 
dom. The strength of the kingdom from the first was 
Brandenburg.' Elector Frederick III craved royalty. 
Emperor Rudolph needed help.* Help judiciously ap- 
plied won permission to a.ssume the crown, but there 
could be no king of Brandenburg, custom, if not law, 
forbidding more than one king elector. Among the 
possessions of the Elector was the Duchy of Prussia. 
The kingship denied Brandenburg might be allowed 



256 THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 

Prussia. So the Elector of Brandenburg became King 
of Prussia, Brandenburg furnishing the power, Prussia 
the crown. Notwithstanding the name, therefore, it 
is the history of Brandenburg we need to follow. In 
time conquest will unite the widely separated domains 
of this king with Slavonic title, and a great state will 
be built, including old Prussia and much beside, but 
the kernel will still be Brandenburg. 

Under the name of North Mark, Albert the Bear got 
Brandenburg as a fief from Emperor Lothair II in 
1 134. Albert conquered his fief, which was ruled bj^ 
his line, the Ascanian, until its extinction in 13 19. 
The Mark, having reverted to the Emperor, was then 
for a half century an appanage of Bavaria. Another 
half century it was under the hand of the lyUxemburg 
house, a reprCvSentative of which had succeeded the 
Bavarian Emperor Lothair. This period is memorable 
chiefly by fact that in 1356 Brandenburg was made ah 
^electorate. Its close brings us to 141 5 and the Hohen- 
zoUerns.^ 

^ Bor-Reussen, B'reusseu, Preussen, Prussia— so the deriva- 
tion runs. The land itself is part of the great plain stretching 
from Silesia to the Baltic. The early population was Slavonic 
and heathen. Concerned about their souls and their lands, the 
Duke of Poland early in nth century forced them to sub- 
jection and baptism. Converted, however, they were not until 
the middle of the 13th century, when that belligerent brother- 
hood, the Teutonic Knights, went up to preach the gospel, 
sword in hand. The Northern crusade was entirely successful. 
Prussia was civilized and christianized, though it must be said 
that in the process the pagan population was nearl}' extermi- 
nated. A large influx of German colonists repeopled the coun- 
try, greatly simplifying the making of it into a Christian state. 
Separate organization was maintained, mostly under Polish 
suzerainty, until 1618, when the Duchy of Prussia and the Elec- 
torate of Brandenburg were united in persons of Johann Sigis- 



THK GERMAN KMPIRK. ^57 

mund and his wife Anne. The matter of the kingship was re- 
sponsible for the odd resnltthat the wilder territory, an appan- 
age and outside, finally gave name to the leading German state. 

2 Though not by any means so purely so as states further 
south. Not until Bismarck coined the phrase did men speak of 
welding empire by blood and iron, but the thing itself was in 
use in Prussia centuries before. The Slav died hard. Indeed, 
in large measure he did not die at all, but was assimilated to 
the Teutonic conqueror. More than possibly the forward role 
played b}- Prussia in moderii history is due to blending of Teu- 
tonic and Slavonic elements. 

^Tlie old North Mark, a barrier for the empire erected against 
the heathen Wend, as Austria was once East Mark, barrier 
against the heathen Hun. Brandenburg is just Brannibor, a 
town of the old Mark, from which Albert the Bear ousted its 
Slav conquerors in 1161. From the town gradually the whole 
Mark took its name. 

*The air was full of war. Russia, Poland, and Denmark were 
in arms against Sweden. In southern Europe the war of the 
Spanish Succession was ready to break out. Brandenburg was 
in the enviable position of being able to make his own terms. 
Saying nothing of the bribes, which proved serviceable at sev- 
eral points, the price of Prussian kingship was as follows : Re- 
newal of treaty of 1686, guaranteeing aid against Turks ; 8,000 
men, with equipment and maintenance, in case Austria went to 
war against France ; certain garrison forces ; cancelment of im- 
perial subsidies still due ; support of Hapsburg claims upon 
imperial crown ; the kingship to work no change in Branden- 
burg's relation to the Empire. 

* Named from Svvabian heights of Zollern. 



SEC. 4. GROWTH. 

Brandenburg was not greatl}^ forward either in faith 
or manners, but was of good stock for building a state. 
Lying on the boundary, it got enough fighting to keep 
its sinew tough. Some glimpses of government, at once 
enlightened and strong, it had had even under the 
Ascanians.^ The Hohenzollerns raised large hopes and 



258 THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 

justified them."^ They reduced the nobles to order and 
consolidated the somewhat loose possessions of the 
Mark. Albert Achilles, 147 1-1486, settled the succes- 
sion by primogeniture, thus putting stop to the perils 
of division. Joachim I, 1499-1535, opposed the Ref- 
ormation chiefly on political grounds,^ standing nearly 
alone in Brandenburg. Joachim II, 1 535-1 571, after 
mature deliberation, formally introduced Protestantism 
in 1539. During time of Joachim II. Albert of 
Brandenburg, a Hohenzollern Grand Master, secular- 
ized Prussia,^ which, as property of the Teutonic Order, 
was church land, getting it ready, though a century 
5^et enfeoffed to Poland, for final incorporation with 
Brandenburg. Secularization went on in Brandenburg 
as elsewhere during the sixteenth century. The con- 
troversy over Jiilich-Mark-Clive^ in 1609 ultimately 
gave Brandenburg important Rhine holdings. Prussia 
came in by marriage,** 16 18, doubling the electorate. 
Still the Elector could hardly be counted a great prince. 
The year 1640 saw him with territories considerable 
enough, but straggling from the Baltic to the Rhine, 
scarcely two provinces contiguous, their population 
divided by interest, religion, and speech, their alle- 
giance limited by varied feudal conditions, and himself 
obligated to homage toward Poland, Netherlands, and 
Empire.'' Here is indeed opportunity for a strong hand. 

. 1 Named from Aschersleben — Ascaria — Ascauia, an ancestral 
castle. The line, so far as Brandenburg is concerned, was 
founded by Albert the Bear. This somewhat savage appella- 
tion referred to the device on his shield, not at all to his man- 
ners. More truly characteristic was his other by-name, the 
Beautiful. He seems to have been at once handsome, brave, 
and strong, a renowned and successful warrior. Unless the 
chronicles of the 12th century err, Albert exhibited a quality 



THE GKRMAN EMPIRE. 259 

rare indeed in his age, what the modern world would call 
patriotism. Even while reducing his turbulent domain to order 
he maintained most honorable relations with the Empire. Fight 
he did when he had to, but it was more by statesmanlike ad- 
ministration than by war that he made the Mark a valuable 
possession. His line ruled the Mark for two centuries, a fair 
proportion of its members able men, leaving a record of subju- 
gation, enlargement, division, reunion quite in keeping with 
the spirit of the time. 

2 There is a saying that there never has been a worthless Ho- 
henzollern. Even family pride could ask no l)etter compliment 
than this. Certain it is that five centuries of public life have 
given force to the saying. The family is much more than five 
centuries old, antedating Charlemagne. But it was in 1415 that 
Frederick of Nuremberg was made Margrave and Elector of 
Brandenburg. Three able men in succession gave new impor- 
tance to the Mark, and the five centuries of Hohenzollern rule 
have proved five centuries of increasing strength. 

' Fearing overturn of civil order if ecclesiastical breach were 
permitted, identifying religioxis reform with political revolu- 
tion, protest against papal claims with breaking up of state. 

*The order had long since proved untrue to themselves. The 
iron discipline by which they had conquered was relaxed. 
The knights ceased to be crusaders and became voluptuaries. 
The people were not slow to see their opportunity in the weak, 
ness of the ruling. caste. Thwarted in peaceful reform, the 
people conquered rights from their conquerors. Division thus 
induced made Polish intervention inevitable. It took a century 
to work out the problem, but on advice of many Germans, 
notably Luther and Melancthon, and with consent, if not ap- 
proval, of Poland, the Grand Master Albert in 1525 proclaimed 
Prussia a temporal duchy and Protestant, the Polish suzerainty 
still recognized. 

^See ch. IX, sec. 5. 

^The secularizing Grand Master was, of course, the first Duke 
of Prussia. He was succeeded in 1568 by his imbecile son, 
Albert Frederick. A regency became necessary, and the Elector 
of Brandenburg was chosen to administer it. Nature and fate 
worked together for the union "of Brandenburg and Prussia. 
Joachim Frederick of Brandenburg and John Sigismund, his 

36 



26o THK GERMAN EMPIRE. 

sou and successor, both married daughters of imbecile Albert 
Frederick of Prussia. In 1618 the poor Duke died. John Sigis- 
mund then was both Blector of Brandenburg and Duke of 
Prussia. 

'Toward Poland for Prussia, the Netherlands for the Rhine 
provinces, the Bmpire for the electorate itself. 



SEC. 5. THE GREAT EI.KCTOR. 

And the strong hand was not wanting. Perhaps for 
no other event is the year 1640 so memorable as for the 
accession of Frederic William ^ as elector of Branden- 
burg. It was a disheartening patrimony he inherited. 
For two years the court had been held at Konigsberg, 
in Prussia, because Brandenburg had been swept bare 
of subsistence.'^ The temporizing of two decades had 
guaranteed L*rotestant suspicion and Catholic hostility, 
so that Brandenburg received even less consideration 
than other German states during the Thirty Years' 
War. George William sowed. His son reaped. Hap- 
pily Frederick William surpassed his father in brains 
and pluck. He proceeded with dispatch to master his 
own. Breaking from imperial direction, he made peace 
with Sweden and declared for strict neutrality.^ He 
reduced the army to manageable dimensions and to 
order. He undertook to rule as well as to reign. The 
immediate result was j ust what he expected — insubor- 
dination, opposition, violence. George William would 
have let things take their course or have died. Fred- 
erick William did neither. The Diets refused needed 
support. The Elector raised the support without the 
Diets. The different principalities were out of accord. 
Their common prince used one against another till all 
were in harmony with one another and with him. The 
negotiations preceding the Treaty of Westphalia proved 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 261 

Frederick William bold as well as brave. Forgetting 
Brandenburg's scandalous indifference to Protestant 
need, he demanded large indemnity for alleged outlay 
in the good cause.* He got much less than he asked 
for, but he had giv^en the impression that henceforth 
Brandenburg must be reckoned with.^ For forty years 
straight on he deepened that impression. The army, 
once formed to the hand of its master, was enlarged. 
The Duch}^ of Prussia was fought free from both 
Swedish and Polish overlordship. At cost of inefficient 
parliamentary institutions, he estabrished absolutism, 
which for the time and place was probably a blessing. 
His campaigns north and south, fruitless as several of 
them proved in spite of victory,^ were able, and made 
Warsaw^ and Fehrbellin^ glorious names in German 
history. His diplomacy was equal to the best of the 
age. Vindicating the Protestant honor of Branden- 
burg, though so tardily, he led the world in real relig- 
ious enlightenment, putting all recognized confessions 
on equal footing, showing both courage and piety by 
official welcome" to outlawed Huguenots of France. 
The Great Elector's life increased Brandenburg's ter- 
ritory and population by a full third each. The polit- 
ical value of his service is simply immeasurable.''' 

^ Son of George WilHam, famous or infamous for record in 
Thirty Years' War. The hue so far runs : Frederick I, Burgrave 
of Nuremberg, purchaser of Brandenburg from Emperor Sigis- 
mund, 1415-1440 ; Frederick II, 1440-1470 ; Albert Achilles, 
1470-1486 ; John Cicero, 1486-1499 ; Joachim I, 1499-1535 ; 
Joachim 11, 1535-1571 ; John George, 1571-1598 ; Joachim Fred- 
erick, 1598-1608 ; John Sigismund, 1608-1619; George William, 
1619-1640; Frederick William, the Great Elector, 1640-1688. 

' Harried the more savagely because of the Elector's early 
vacillation. Mansfield, Wallenstein, and the Swedes overrun 
it in turn. 



262 THK GKRMAN EMPIRK. 

^By this time old fighting lines had been given up, the war 
having passed from religious to political phase. 

* He actually received, with greater or less restriction. Further 
Pomerania, Magdeburg, Halberstadt, Minden, and Camin, 
territories whose value was better seen by him than by those 
who gave them. More he wanted and more he would certainly 
have received but for the jealousy of the Empire, France, and 
Sweden. 

» His own subjects had already learned their lesson. Hetero- 
geneous, scattered, divided, the numerous pieces of the electo- 
rate were united by single bond of allegiance to person of Elector. 
Even this bond was very fragile. In dispute with Empire, Elec- 
tor had to deal with treasonable correspondence of subjects who 
did not scruple to call upon Emperor. Brandenburg estates 
forbade use of Brandenburg troops to defend Rhine provinces. 
Prussia refused to admit Brandenburg troops within Duchy. 
The estates he ignored. Malcontents he taught to look to him- 
self alone. The disorganized lands he bound together by a 
common interest. The best answer to criticism upon his methods 
is a review of the conditions and results of his work. 

^Because of interference caused by fear of his growino power. 
Thus after l)attliiig manfull}^ against France and winning the 
splendid victory of Fehrbellin against Sweden, he was compelled 
by the Treaty of Nymwegen, 1679, to restore to Sweden all the 
territory originally assigned her at Westphalia, great part of 
which the Elector now held by right of conquest. 

'In conjunction with Sweden against Poland in 1656. Chief 
good to Elector was sovereignty of Prussia, now formally con- 
ceded by Poland. As a matter of fact, Poland had already 
forfeited suzerainty of Prussia to Sweden, Frederick William 
doing homage to Charles Gustavus. As price of alliance vSweden 
canceled claim of suzerainty, so that Prussia was sovereign 
state. Warsaw confirmed this sovereignty. 

^Sweden overrun Brandenburg in 1675 during absence of 
Elector fighting Louis XIV on Rhine. The Elector suddenly 
appeared at Fehrbellin while the Swedes w-ere debating how 
the electoral possessions should be divided, and swept them from 
the Mark. This battle gave Frederick William his title Great. 
^ By Edict of Potsdam, 1685. To indignant protest of Louis 
the Elector answered with dignity, " We and other evangelical 



THK GKRMAN KMPIRK. 263 

powers cannot answer to the Almighty, if we stand by with 
folded arms and permit this intended annihilation of the gospel." 
In PrUvSsia, as in every other asylum, the Huguenots proved 
themselves an acquisition of unmixed good. 

'^ " He raised his land from chaos to order, from poverty 
to prosperity, from weakness to strength. He labored not only 
for his own land, but for Germany, liberty, and religion. He 
was great as a diplomat, a soldier, statesman, and sovereign. He 
was, moreover, an honest, moral private man and a sincere 
Christian. The title Great was bestowed upon him not only 
for what he was, but for what he was not. In that dark period 
of corruption he stands almost alone as an example of wisdom 
and virtue. He was one of the few really noble characters of 
his period." 



SEC. 6. THK GREAT KING. 

Of the twelve HohenzoUern electors, counting Fred- 
erick III, who became king, one stands out as the Great. 
Of the six HohenzoUern kings, counting William I, who 
became emperor and is likely to hold the .same title in 
the imperial line, one is called the Great. Between the 
great elector and the great king stood Frederick III, 
or I, according as reckoned elector or king, and Fred- 
erick William I. Frederick w^as well-meaning, but 
vain and weak, a fourth-rate Louis XV. . Frederick 
William was neither vain nor weak, but niggardly, sel- 
fish, coarse, a tyrant toward his family^ and his king- 
dom, a royal martinet,^ a sleepless drill sergeant. But 
the mone}^ hoarded by his parsimony was laid up for 
good use later. The army he made and spared'^ was 
destined ultimately to pay large dividends. Money and 
soldiers were war treasure' of Frederick II, the Great. 

Frederick the Great faced a giant's task. Falsifying 
all prophecies of the Tobacco Parliament, Mie performed 
his task like a giant. With or without conviction of 



264 THK GERMAN EMPIRE. 

hereditary rights^ in Austrian territory, he fought Maria 
Theresa into rehnquishment of Silesia. Astounded by 
his fighting, Europe accorded him a leading place in 
continental politics. This place he maintained, though 
it cost Prussia dear. Sometimes singly, sometimes to- 
gether, France, Austria, Russia," to sa}^ nothing of 
Saxony, Sweden, and lesser powers, tried hard to put 
him down. Thanks to England and his own indomit- 
able will, he triumphed, writing Rossbach ^ and Leuthen ^ 
beside Fehrbellin on the Prussian banner. Won at last 
to alliance wdth the enemies of other days, Frederick, in 
1772, took part with Austria and Russia in the robbers' 
work of the first partition of Poland. This international 
crime joined Prussia to Brandenburg, bringing gain 
far beyond addition of territor}^ The latter part of 
Frederick's reign was free from actual war. Peace was 
utilized to restore the exhausted kingdom. Despite 
much oppression, Frederick proved his statesmanship 
by wise internal administration and self-respecting in- 
sistence upon Prussian interests everywhere. Signifi- 
cant anticipation of future, he formed in 1785 a League 
of German Princes.^" His service may be summarized 
as follows: i. Enlargement of territory, especially im- 
portant as uniting separated lands. 2. Conquest of 
honorable place in w^orld politics. 3. Measurement of 
strength with Austria, result prophetic of final victory. 

4. Greatly needed example of religious toleration.'^ 

5. Emphasis of German things.''^ 6. Quickening of 
German spirit, inspiring alike the heroisms of Fred- 
erick's ceaseless wars and the marvelous songs of 
Herder, Goethe, Schiller, and Richter. 7. Fore- 
glimpse of German unity, still a century away. 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 265 

^ His brutality toward his great son Frederick passes belief. 
On more than one occasion onl}^ the interference of bystanders 
saved the king from becoming a murderer. The 3'oung prince's 
efforts to please his father seem only to have angered him more 
and more, and the old king darkened his life by every possible 
means. 

■^The royal economies were the more noticeable by contrast 
with the spendthrift excesses of the reign before. Frederick I 
tried to be like Louis XIV. Frederick William I despised all 
show. Actors, artists, litterateurs, every one who could be dis- 
pensed with, was di.smissed. If a man could not be spared he 
was kept, but his salary cut down. The queen had one waiting 
woman. vServants of the royal household were paid about the 
wages current in citizens' kitchens today. Idling was prohibited. 
The whole nation was forced into industry. We may speak 
lightly of this king's penuriousness, but, taking everything to- 
gether, there was in it more to be praised than to be blamed. 

^ One of history's laughing-stocks. The cen.tral feature of the 
militar}'^ system was the regiment of Potsdam giants. By im- 
pressment, importation, shanghaiing, purchase, an}' way, ever}' 
way, the kin^' got big men. State policy was more than once 
determined by the element of a giant thrown in or promised. 
That regiment of giants was the best fed, best groomed, best 
petted body of men in Christendom. But somewhat like care 
was bestowed upon the whole army. The regiments were thor- 
oughly drilled, but no consideration would have persuaded the 
king to expose them to battle. How could he run the risk of 
damaging men and uniforms which had cost him so dear ! 

* 9,000,000 thaiers and nearly 100,000 troops. 

= A coarse joke of his father's. Partly because he hated 
French elegance, partly because it suited his own tastes, partly 
because he was a bit crazy, Frederick William summoned friends, 
ministers, ambassadors to smoke with him in a plain room, 
stocked with plentiful cold fare and unlimited drinks, making 
discourse from a three-legged stool, while they sat on bare 
benches. Ceremony was forbidden, the only requirement being 
that each should smoke or at least make believe to. The gravest 
public concerns were discussed at these smokers. Prince Fred- 
erick attended by express command of his father, who made him 
continually the butt of his heavy wit. 



266 'THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 

^ It is a bit difficult to find the legal right of a great deal that 
Frederick did while king. The key to his action was his con- 
viction that Prussia could and must be made one of the great 
powers, and that she must fight her way to her place. 

^Elizabeth's death saved him. Peter III admired Frederick 
and swung Russia to his support. Apparently Elizabeth's death 
postponed a year would have meant annihilation of Prussia, 
already prostrate. 

81757, near lyiitzen and Ivcipsic. 60,000 French and German 
troops were moving on to Berlin to go into winter quarters 
there. Frederick had 22,000. To the surprise of the French, 
the Prussians did not run awa)^ More to their surprise, the 
Prussians attacked them. In an hour and a half the French 
army was a mere rabble, fleeing in wildest panic, leaving nine 
generals, three hundred and twenty other officers, and seven 
thousand common .soldiers on the field. The Prussian loss was 
ninet3'-one killed, two hundred and twenty-four wounded. 

^1757, exactly a month after Rossbach. Outnumbered two 
to one by the Au-strians, Frederick beat them as badly as he 
had the French at Rossbach. 

^° Embracing Prussia, Saxony, Hanover, joined presently by 
Brunswick, Mainz, Hesse-Cassel, Baden, Mecklenberg, Anhalt, 
and the Thuringian lands. 

^^ "I am resolved," Frederick was wont to say, "that every 
one of my subjects shall have the right to be saved in his own 
way." 

^2 The German soldier had already proved his ability to 
stand alongside the best fighters anywhere. Hitherto, however, 
he had done his best work in the service of other states than his 
own. Now a leader had come who was leading them to the ac- 
complishment of German interests. The thing was so unusual 
that it was not realized all at once. 



SEC. 7. DAYS GOOD AND EVIL. 

Frederick's desperate struggle left his title secure, 
and in spite of the enormous drain of his wars the 
country at his death could rejoice in a superb army, a 
well-filled treasury, and good hope for the future of the 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 267 

country. Frederick and peace might at length have 
put Prussia beyond competition, but his successor, 
Frederick William II, was hardl}^ large enough, with 
or without peace, to do much. Not only was good 
missed, but mischief was wrought. Ignoring Fred- 
erick's distinct pledge, Poland was broken yet again 
a second and a third time, adding territory which might 
offset lost Rhenish provinces, but breaking every law 
except that of force, and entailing generations of trouble 
upon Prussia.^ Internal administration showed judicial 
reform and industrial quickening to its credit. Against 
it''^ were paternalism pushed to extreme of tyranny, ex- 
travagance, and maudlin piety which did not save the 
king from being both a dupe and a rake.'* Fortunatel)^ 
the reign was not long. The end came in 1797, after 
all that was possible had been accomplished to make 
sure a day of French reckoning.* Frederick William 
III, though no giant, was blessed by heroism of im- 
mortal Queen Louise,^ still Germany's idol, and by 
wisdom of able ministers. Prussia's night of humilia- 
tion was long and bitter, but morning broke at last. 
Hardenberg and Stein and Scharnhorst and Gneisenau 
and Bliicher and Yorck and Biilow and the sacred 
memory of Louise and an awakened people wrought 
together, aiding overthrow of Napoleon and making 
ready for Bismarck, Moltke, William I, and Empire.'' 

* Some defense can be made for Prussia's first Polish acquisi- 
tion. It gave compactness to sadly scattered members. The 
first partition was bad law, but good politics. The second and 
third partitions were even less justifiable, lacking even sound 
political motive. 

^ There was nmch against it. Frederick the Great showed un- 
accountable indifference to the future in leaving his nephew, 
who he knew was to succeed him, wholly untaught in govern- 

37 



268 THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 

meut. Frederick William II was not much of a mau for any 
position, and possibly his uncle thought best to let matters take 
their course, trusting Providence. Still part of the new king's 
most fatal blunders might have been saved Prussia if some one 
had tutored him for his place. 

^ " He was weak, dissolute, and fickle in his character; he 
introduced the most rigid measures in regard to the press and 
religious worship, and soon taught the people the difference be- 
tween a bigoted and narrow-minded and an intelligent and con- 
scientious king." 

^ Mistook, like all the rest of Europe, the real significance of 
the French Revolution. Prussia's defiance would in time have 
been forgiven. It was her stupid diplomacy, her hypocritical 
pretension, most of all her incurable vacillation that, deepen- 
ing, anger into contempt, made Frenchmen swear that in due 
time Prussia should drink the cup of shame, dregs and all. 

^ Of Mecklenberg-Strelitz. She did more for Prussia by her 
patience, her unconquerable sweetness, her clear vision, her 
high-minded devotion than all the energetic but abortive efforts 
of the king. While he and Stein and Scharnhorst and Harden- 
berg and the rest were drilling the nation for final effort when 
the time should come, Konigin Luise was speaking to the na- 
tional heart words, fondly repeated after she died, in which her 
own brave soul spoke out its faith, awakening like faith in her 
subjects and countrymen. Just before she died she wrote her 
father, "I hope my children will devote their lives to the de- 
liverance of their country." To the two sons who afterward, 
in succession, wore the crown, she said, "The Prussian state, 
the Prussian army, the glory of Prussia have disappeared. 
Weep in memory of me the downfall of our Fatherland. But 
weeping is not enough. Act ! Conquer back from France the 
darkened glory of your great ancestors ! Be men ! Be heroes ! " 



SEC. 8. PRUvSSIA A FRENCH PROVINCE. 

In his task of conquering Europe, Napoleon had 
every European nation save England as his ally. i. 
At first the liberal element in every country sympa- 
thized with him ; when it could, supported him.' 2. 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 269 

Much conquered territory was organized under mem- 
bers of the conqueror's own family."^ 3. The Confed- 
eration of the Rhine, '^ under his protectorship, gave 
him good part of Germany. 4. The magic of his per- 
sonality won him royal aid when needed.* 5. Coali- 
tions^ so easily formed against him were as easily 
broken. 6. Dread of his vengeance cut the nerve of 
resistance^ when attempted. 7. International jeal- 
ousies furnished coveted opportunities for dividing foes, 
to be crushed in turn. Once and again apparently 
cooperation would have saved states from overthrow. 
Cooperation, however, was not effected, and the French 
eagle flew unchecked, often unopposed. Prussia was 
reduced with the rest, partly cajoled, partly flailed into 
subjection. Deserted by Russia, power of resistance 
broken, distrusted by neighbors alienated by her own 
unworthy vacillation, for six weary years she lay pros- 
trate, trampled by foreign armies and perforce sup- 
porting the unholy ambition that was changing the 
face of the world. The period 1807-18 13 was Prussia's 
hour of shame. Yet even in that hour, unseen by Na- 
poleon and the world, Prussia was undergoing renewal. 

^ It was this fact that saved the French revolutiouar}' pro])a- 
ganda from being an irredeemable blunder. The French gen- 
erals were instriicted to make proclamation wherever they led 
their armies that French aid might be counted on for any people 
desiring to be rid of kings. " Here was direct attack upon estab- 
lished order, but the revolutionists were sure that France was 
not alone in its struggle for liberty. What had broken into 
flame in France was smouldering in many countries. The 
French crusade was thus made doubly formidable. 

^ The revolutionary republic had undertaken to republicanize 
Europe. The revolutionary empire proceeded to turn the re- 
publics back into monarchies dependent on France. The King- 
dom of Italy was taken by Napoleon himself. Holland was 



270 THK GERMAN EMPIRE. 

given to his brother Louis, the Spanish Peninsula to his brother 
Joseph, Naples to his brother-in-law Murat, Westphalia to his 
brother Jerome. 

3 The battle of Austerlitz, 1805, shattered Austria and produced 
two striking results. Partly because a sense of dignity forbade 
Austria longer to claim the imperial crown for her sovereign, 
now that confessedly she was no longer the leading power of 
Christendom, partly because Napoleon required it, Emperor 
Francis II resigned the headship of the Holy Roman Empire, 
which thus came to an end in 1806. More important result still 
was formation of Rhine League. Sixteen of the German states, 
neither waiting for nor expecting the dissolution of the Empire, 
declared themselves independent of it and formed the Confed- 
eration of the Rhine, with Napoleon as protector. 

* As at Nienieu, in 1807, Alexander of Russia was captivated 
by him. The treaty of Tilsit followed, based upon the newly 
formed friendship. Fox of England was charmed b}' him no 
less. 

^ Passing the first,' called out by the Revolution in the early 
stages, we may name as strongest that of 1798, composed of 
England, Austria, Turke)!-, Russia, Portugal, Naples ; that of 
1805, England, Russia, Austria, Sweden ; that of 1813, England, 
Russia, Prussia, Sweden, Spain. But division of interest, some- 
times division of sentiment, made the strongest of them weak up 
to the last. Then, forced into real union by disaster, the nations 
joined heart and hand and Napoleon's doom was sealed. 

^ He had actually beaten them into a habit of fear. 



SEC. 9. REHABILITATION. 

Prussia was crushed, not destroyed. Napoleon's 
gratuitous humiliations,^ plainl}^ intended to break the 
national spirit, so far from succeeding, goaded the people 
into undying passion for revenge.'^ Suffering a com- 
mon fate, Germans began to discover that they were 
one. In Prussia especially the consciousness of na- 
tionality awoke. ^ Nassauer Stein and Hanoverian 
vScharnhorst threw themselves into the task of regen- 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 27 1 

erating Prussia. Fichte called upon his countrymen 
in his memorable Addresses.^ Persuaded that only a 
transformed Prussia could be a strong Prussia, the 
king's ministers remade the state. Renewal came at 
immeasurable cost, but it came. Half-feudal exactions 
and privileges were abolished. Serfs were freed. 
Cities long since deprived of rights received their own 
again. Public burdens were equalized. The army 
was reorganized. Citizens were inspired with love of 
country. When Napoleon outlawed the "so-called" 
Stein, ^ Hardenberg took up the fugitive's work. So 
quietly and effectively was the work of renewal done 
that while Napoleon was thinking Prussia's subjection 
so complete as no longer to need even the master's foot 
upon her neck, a nation awakened and ready was simply 
waiting for the signal to accomplish its deliverance. 
The Wars of Liberation tell how well Prussia did her 
part when the signal was given. 

' Such as segregation of I'russian territory without so much 
as saying. By your leave ; turning over Hanover to England, 
while talking with Frederick William about a North German 
confederation, a Prussian confederation, even of a German em- 
pire under Prussia ; keenest of all, scurrilous references to the 
queen. 

2 Immediate results were disastrous. Sorely against his better 
judgment, Frederick William declared war. Napoleon's answer 
was the double battle of Jena and Auerstadt, 1806, after which 
he spent a month in Berlin itself, collecting tribute, issuing 
orders, and publishing the continental system. It is disheart- 
ening to read that even then the square fronting on the Schloss 
was regularly crowded with the Berliners of the day, who fran- 
tically cheered Napoleon whenever he deigned to favor them 
with a passing glance. 

^Andrews' strong words make good reading for every lover of 
Germany : "The years from 1806 to 181 2 are morally the grand- 
est in all Prussian history. The efficient organizers of the re- 



272 THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 

vival were Stein and Schnrnhorst, two of the patriotic Germans 
who had flocked to Prussia from other states. Stein, believing 
that domestic bondage must be ended before the foreign could 
be, set out to rebuild socially from the bottom. The serfs were 
freed, nobles' privileges and many monopolies abolished, self- 
government restored to cities, the trades removed from guild 
domination. Public burdens, distributed more justly, were- 
borne more cheerfully. Scharnhorst reformed the army in like 
manner, putting into it native Prussians only, to be treated 
humanely and honorably, with arms and drill simple and effi- 
cient. His plan of filling and drilling the permitted quota, and 
then emptying it to give place to more recruits, turned the 
whole male population into trained soldiers, wherein merit and 
service, not social position, secured promotion. In these and 
other ways inspired patriotism came to pervade clergy, univer- 
sities, schools, and literature, as well as the masses of the 
people." 

*In the winter of 1807-1808. " I speak as a German to Ger- 
mans about German things," said Fichte. Germans bowed in 
shame when Fichte told them of neglected duty and lost oppor- 
tunity. Their hearts beat high when he reminded them of their 
heritage. They rose to new endeavor when he summoned them 
to self-renewal and the redemption lof the world, 

^ Instead of mercenaries, citizens were now called to service- 
This was part of a marvelous renovation. The other part was 
Scharnhorst's device of drilling the 40,000 troops permitted by 
law, and replacing them by levies to be drilled and dismissed in 
turn. The result was that when Prussia went into the field 
again she had, instead of forty thousand soldiers, several times 
that number. Manufacture of cannon and muskets had mean- 
while been secretly pushed, so that arms as well as men were 
ready. 

* " IvC nomme Stein." Napoleon suspected Stein's purpose 
and outlawed him. Stein fled to Prague and afterward to the 
extreme north. At Konigsberg he did noble service organizing 
the Wars of Liberation. He took a forward part at the Congress 
of Vienna. 



TUn GERMAN EMPIRE. 273 



SEC. 10. GERMAN I.INES REDRAWN. 

After Westphalia Germany numbered a round three 
hundred sovereign states. Napoleon prepared a new 
map of Europe, showing only France and tributaries. 
When Europe awoke and set about restoring the land- 
marks, of the three hundred principalities only thirty- 
nine were recognizable. These were united into a loose 
confederation.^ with a Diet, a confederate army nomi- 
nally of three hundred thousand, war and treaty rights 
over its members, and Austrian headship.''' But, so far 
from furthering German unity, the Act of Union was 
an elaborate pledge that unity should be prevented. 
The union was the work of Metternich, virtual ruler 
of Austria, a nineteenth-century Machiavelli, Europe's 
evil genius for thirty-odd years. Metternich sought to 
make German rivalry to Austria impossible. Hence 
in the reconstruction he threw his weight against Prus- 
sia, favoring France rather than her, and opposed a 
real German union, choosing rather an aggregation, 
ver}^ looseness of organization favoring Austrian de- 
signs. So for a time matters were destined to move 
according to the old order. The day of the people had 
not yet come.^ 

^ *'A confederation of free and independent states." 

^ Chief regulations were as follows : 

(i) All members to have equal and uniform rights. 

(2) Confederate interests to be controlled by perpetual Diet 
sitting at Frankfort under presidency of Austria. 

(3) "All the members of the Confederation promise to unite 
together against any and every attack, and when a war takes 
place they pledge themselves not to enter upon any secret com- 
pact, nor conclude any partial armistice or peace with the 
enemy." Otherwise right of alliance was reserved to all, sav- 



274 ""^HE GERMAN EMPIRE. 

ing only such as affected other members. Interstate wars were 
forbidden, all disputes to be referred to the Diet. 

(4) " In all the states there shall be a constitutional govern- 
ment." But no guarantee was added as to time or character of 
constitution. 

(5) Civil and political rights were declared independent of 
religious affiliations. 

(6) Of the Confederate army of 300,000, Austria was respon- 
sible for 94,000 ; Prussia for 79,000 ; Bavaria, 35,000 ; the smaller 
states for numbers ranging down from 13,500. 

2 To the credit of the people, it must be said that they never 
thought much of the Confederation. Organization had been 
effected without any one thinking to ask what would be best for 
the people. Sovereigns did the work as suited them. The 
French Revolution had shown the people the land of promise, 
though storm-swept and for the time unbeautiful. What they 
wanted was political Canaan without the storm. 



SEC. II. GLIMPSES OF BETTER THINGS. 

Yet the old order could not be wholly restored. 
Three principles ruled the Congress : i. The princi- 
ple of legitimacy. The Napoleonic disturbance was 
not to work permanent dispossession. 2. The principle 
of continuity. No change of government was to be 
wrought in the restoration. 3. The principle of abso- 
lutism.^ The drift toward constitutionalism was to be 
stopped. But nature is stronger even than congresses. 
Awakened France lost its track in the Revolution, and 
from a star of hope became a torch of war. But even 
beneath the heel of Napoleon men dared believe in 
liberal ideas and an awakened Europe. Even at the 
Congress princes realized that they must reckon with 
the people. Alexander gave Poland a constitution ; "^ 
Frederick William promised Prussia one ; the articles of 
confederation stipulated that every participant state 
should have one. Saxe- Weimar actually got one. 



THE GKRMAN EMPIRE. 275 

Nassau had the form but not the fact. The southern 
group — Bavaria. Wiirtemberg, Baden — got theirs about 
together, in 1820.^ Outside Saxe- Weimar the consti- 
tutions came to Httle. Many princes evaded the promise 
of reform ; some broke it outright. The sum total of 
liberal gain was very small. Still there was gain, and 
prophets of the new day rejoiced. Even then there 
w^ere some who saw that a really free Germany might 
be a united Germany. 

^ This principle got embodiment in the Holy Alliance. Rus- 
sia, Austria, and Prussia formed a league with the Sermon on 
the Mount as its fundamental law. "The maintenance of re- 
ligion, peace, and order in Europe and the reduction to practice 
in politics of the Maxims of Christ," so read the prospectus. 
One reads the promise of these sovereigns to be fathers to their 
people, to rule them with eye single to the welfare of the people, 
to be brothers to one another in behalf of just government, and 
is prepared for the official announcement of September 26, 1815, 
that though there may be bad kings in the world, here are three 
of the mightiest who will henceforth rule " in exact accord with 
Christian love, regarding themselves as the plenipotentiaries of 
Heaven. " Gratitude for a great deliverance will lead men strange 
lengths. Possibly the heaviest account Gratitude will ever 
be called upon to settle will be the confession of faith of the Holy 
Alliance, which was a lie from the first moment of its adoption. 
Did those who held it believe their own professions ? Perhaps. 
And yet when Francis of Austria hesitated to sign it lest he 
could not live up to it, Metternich bade him be of good cheer and 
sign, assuring him that it was all twaddle an}' way. It worked 
more or less will to the purpose of the organizers, which was 
plainly reactionary and absolutist, until 1848, when the people 
insisted that, alliance or no alliance, they should no longer be 
ignored. 

2 In force up to 1830. Then vSuccessful revolution in France 
and Belgium stirred Poland to attempt independence. The ris- 
ing was mercilessly suppressed, the constitution annulled, and 
Polish organization carefully effaced. 

^ Showing effect of contiguity to France. 

38 



276 the: GERMAN KMPIRK. 



SKC. 12. THE VISION GROWS CLEARER. 

Reaction in France unseated Charles X.^ A wave of 
revolt against absolutism swept Europe in 1830. In 
some places it cost the people dear, as it did in Poland. 
Elsewhere, as in England,"'' it wrought mightily and at 
once for political liberty. To Germany it brought new 
effort, ending in mingled gain and loss. Several addi- 
tional constitutions were secured. But how little might 
be won in the winning of a constitution was shown by 
Hanover. Her new king, in 1837, swept away the con- 
stitution in the most approved absolutist fashion.^ The 
principalities nearest France were greatly quickened, 
some with, some without, constitutions. Then Metter- 
nich, ever diligent in the service of the devil, inaugu- 
rated a work of mutual destruction among the states. 
Suspicions were created and then nursed into hostility. 
When all was ready, the rights of the people were boldly 
denied.* Political liberty and progress were stamped 
out. Grand Duke Karl-August of Saxe- Weimar and 
King William of Wiirtemberg, who had been forward 
in the work of enlightenment, were forced into party 
of repression. So the vision grew dim. At no time 
since 18 13 had it been so dark for Germany. But it 
was only the darkness before dawn. Another popular 
wave swept Europe in 1848. The arch-enemy of pop- 
ular government went under. ^ Fresh longing for lib- 
erty and unit}^ were recorded. A German republic to 
match the French, newly restored, or, more feasible, 
revival and revision of the defunct empire, so that Ger- 
many might have a German political organization, was 
called for — persistently, plainly. Prussia got a real 



THK GERMAN KMPIRK. 277 

constitution.^ Austria, marvel of marvels, fared like- 
wise.'' While waiting for something better, it seemed 
'well to reform the Diet already existing, by giving it a 
popular element, so as fairly to represent the states in- 
stead of the princes, as hitherto. The popular move- 
ment took shape in the Frankfort Assembly. The Diet 
made an abortive attempt to do something. The Con- 
stitutional Assembly made a constitution, but could not 
work it, chiefly because Austria and Prussia were un- 
friendly. Within two years the attempted change was 
abandoned as hopeless. Still, it had not been in vain. 
Now, as never before was seen: i. The inadequacy of 
the Confederation. 2. The worthlessness of constitu- 
tions in absence of political spirit. 3. The unreadi- 
ness of sovereigns to suffer encroachment upon pre- 
rogative. 4. The dependence, in last analysis, of ruler 
upon people. 5. The disheartening selfishness of many 
states, especially the larger. 6. The possibilities of 
German unity. 7. The line of its development. 

^ Charles X was the high-minded brother of Louis XVI, the 
first to run when trouble threatened royalty at beginning of the 
Revolution, starting the unfortunate "emigration." Unfortu- 
nately for France, he outlived his brother, Louis XVIII, and 
became king. His beautifully progressive spirit is shown by 
his boast, " Lafayette and I alone have not changed since 1789.'' 
He got along all right for six years, only growing a trifle more 
autocratic and a trifle more stupid ever}' year ; but the Liberalist 
movement was more than he could understand. He thought to 
cure the ills of the state by heroic measures, as Louis XIV would 
have done a century and a half before. In this resolution 
Charles left two considerations out of account — he was not 
Loviis XIV, and during that century and a half the world had 
changed. Three da^^s fighting in the streets of Paris taught even 
the unlearning and unforgetting Bourbon that political em- 
phasis had shifted from king to people, and that he must go. 



278 THK GERMAN EMPIRE. 

^The great reform measures of the early thirties were the 
fruit. 

^ A proceeding the more shameful because of harsh treatment- 
of protesting patriots. Gottingen suffered most. Seven of her 
professors— Albrecht, Dahlmann, Ewald, Gervinus, Weber, and 
the two brothers Grimm — were dismissed. Dahlmann, Ger- 
vinus, and Jacob Grimm, who had published their protests, were 
banished. It is only fair to Ernest Augustus to say that he was 
backed by the Diet iu this action. 

*The noble sentiments of the Holy Alliance are everywhere 
apparent in the miserable work. Happily for Germany's future, 
though not for Metternich's, literature was encouraged with the 
thought that the popular mind would be thereby occupied in 
pursuits less dangerous than politics. Elsewhere than in litera- 
ture, so far as the people were concerned, there was the quiet 
of the dungon and the grave. 

^ Dismissed by the Emperor under popular pressure, Metter- 
nich found refuge in England. He had found it impossible to 
"keep things as they were." " Ideas had entered the world," 
he declared, "which ought never to have entered the world, 
but, having unfortunately gained admission, made it tlie task 
of government to resist their influence by all available means." 
He went down at last, because ideas were too strong for him. 

^In 1850. Still in force, modified to meet new conditions. 
Providesfor hereditary monarchy and a parliament of two houses. 
The usual guarantees of a modern constitution are included, legal 
equality, personal liberty, military service, security of property, 
religious toleration, and, to some extent, freedom of press, of 
association, and of speech. 

^In 1849, a gift of the Emperor, who appeared not ill-dis- 
posed toward reform. Change was necessary, and the present 
constitution dates from 1866 to 1867. 



SEC. 13. A NEW CENTER OF GRAVITY. 

Among those di.scoveries none was more important 
than that of Austria's inveterate hostility to German 
interest.^ Alread}^ in the Frankfort Assembly of '48 
it had been voted to exchide Austria from the new con- 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 279 

stitution. The vote came to nothing, as Austria re- 
fused to be excluded. Then dawned on German minds 
something that had long been evident everywhere out- 
side of German}^ German political life must be re- 
gathered. French power was a standing menace to a 
disunited neighbor. Austria had proved either in- 
capable or unwilling to lead. Prussia, satisfied at last 
of Austria's betrayal of Germany, convicted by her 
conscience of cowardl}^ acquiescence, if not of willing 
participation,^ in Austria's perfidy, nerved to courage 
by thought of a fatherland, read}- at last to see Ger- 
many ^ w^here before she had seen only Prussia — here 
was the appointed leader of Germany's political regen- 
eration. By the time WilHam I became king,* Prussia's 
mission had been recognized, probably by the king him- 
self, certainly by his great minister, Bismarck.^ Able 
as either Talleyrand or Metternich had been, and far 
nobler than either, Bismarck set himself to oppose, then 
neutralize, Austria's ascendenc}^ in the Confederation, 
preparatory to casting her out altogether. It was a 
hazardous undertaking, and to one seeing less clearly or 
less far than Bismarck it must have appeared utterly sub- 
versive of German unity. The truth was as Bismarck 
saw it. Unity could come only by ousting Austria and 
building the elements that remained about Prussia. 
The end would justif}^ any cost of force or sacrifice, for 
it was nothing less than the political regeneration of 
Germany. 

^ Even Bismarck came to the truth slowly. His disHke of 
democracy may have had much to do with it, but for some 
reason he long thought well of Austria. Only when he studied 
at Frankfort the singular suspicion of Prussia which he found 
everywhere prevalent, and decided that Austria's ill-kept faith 
was at the bottom of it, did he become an opponent. From that 



28o THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 

time on, however, he was outspoken and consistent, never 
wavering until Austrian headship of Germany had been made 
forever impossible. 

^Again and again Prussia had been Austria's cat's-paw, Metter- 
nich putting her forward for the miserable task of repression. 

"'' Frederick William IV in 1847 tried to quell the gathering 
tumult by a legislative assembly, composed, ho^<'ever, of noble, 
not popular, representatives. Complaint he silenced bj^ assur- 
ance that a constitution was unnecessary, that a bit of paper 
ought not to stand between God and the country. The tide was 
stemmed for the moment, but next year it proved too strong to 
be resisted. By March 18, 1848, all German states but Austria 
and Prussia had been swept into popular reform. Then Prussia 
yielded. One notes with regret that it was only in response to 
revolution that the king gave way ; but he gave way. " From 
this day," the proclamation closed, " Prussia becomes merged in 
Germany." 

*i86i. Frederick III, as King Frederick I after 1701, 1688- 
1713 ; Frederick William I, 1713-1740 ; Frederick II, the Great, 
1740-1786; Frederick William II, 1788-1797; Frederick Wil- 
liam III, 1797-1840; Frederick William IV, 1S40-1861 ; William 
I, Emperor after 1871, 1861-1888 ; Frederick III, 1888-1888 ; 
William II, 1888-. 

^ The greatest single factor in Germany's regeneration. As 
early as 1862 he put his thought into words. Before the com- 
mittee on appropriations September 30 he declared that a larger 
military establishment was necessary, compelled by the very 
configuration of Prussia, calling for a larger proportionate 
military organization than any other European nation needed. 
From this he went on to urge that for future securit}' Prussia 
must extend her military organization overall German-speaking 
people. To this end they must place in the king's hands the 
greatest possible weight of blood and itou. From that day to 
June 18, 1 87 1, when this Prussian king was proclaimed Emperor 
of Germany, he never spent an hour, day or night, which did 
not carry that theory toward accomplishment. "What matter 
if they hang me," he said to the Crown Prince, who urged the 
peril of his course, " provided the rope by which they string me 
up bind this new Germany more firmly to your throne?" 



THK GERMAN KMPIRK. 28 1 



SEC. 14. THE CHANGE VINDICATED. 

It took five years for the change to be appreciated. 
Both feared and hated by everybody in Prussia except 
the king, who loyally supported him/ Bismarck pushed 
on. The Landtag proving unmanageable' was ignored.'' 
Constitutionally when it could, arbitrarily when it must, 
the government prepared for the decisive test. Aid to 
Russia in the Polish rebellion * secured a friend on the 
north. Questionable but able diplomacy assured the 
neutrality of France in case of a struggle with Austria. 
A secret understanding with Italy provided distraction 
to Austria on the south. It might as well have been 
any other of a dozen different questions, but it was the 
Schleswig-Holstein affair that brought on the struggle. 
Austria and Prussia joined forces to wrest the duchies 
from Denmark.^ Then, not so much because he wanted 
territory "^ as because he wanted a long dispute settled, 
Bismarck forced an issue with Austria. The Diet, still 
under the ascendency of Austria, declared Prussia guilty 
of a breach of Confederate peace and mobilized the Con- 
federate army June 14, 1866. Prussia at once withdrew 
from the Confederation, and the day following sum- 
moned the North German states to form a new confeder- 
ation under Prussian headship. Saxony, Hesse-Cassel, 
and Hanover declining, were occupied by Prussian troops! 
Resistance elsewhere in northern Germany was not 
possible, even thought of it forestalled by Prussia's 
decisive action. South Germany, of course, went with 
Austria, but counted little. With the precision of clock- 
work, Moltke's fighting machine moved into Bohemia 
in three divisions, which concentrated at Sadowa July 3. 



282 THH GKRMAN EMPIRE. 

At 3 o'clock in the afternoon Austria had ceased to be 
a German factor. Thirty thousand Austrians and ten 
thousand Prussians, wounded or dead on that awful 
field, made clear at last what Bismarck meant by the 
regenerating force of blood and iron. Force and sacri- 
fice had prevailed. 

^Though needing at times a good deal of encouragement from 
Bismarck. For instance, after the blood and iron speech, .Sep- 
tember 30, 1862, the king, who was on a vacation, started for 
Berlin as soon as the report reached him, telegraphing his min- 
ister to meet him on the way. When the two met, the king, 
badly upset, began talking about revolutions, guillotines, and 
the like. It took the entire ride to the capital and a world of 
Bismarck's talk to brace him into courage again. Fortunateh' 
the royal mind once settled stayed settled. It was only in the 
formulation of plans that the difficulty lay. 

^ The trouble was not downright disloyalty or want of patriot- 
ism in the parliament, but want of power to do things themselves 
and lack of confidence in their new leader. Crown and country 
disagreed because they did not understand one another. The 
government had a policy which would certainly be thwarted if 
talked about. The Landtag would not support the government 
without knowing what its policy was. It was one of the hard 
situations when neither side can be blamed outright. 

^ The government wanted money, must have money. It was 
a question of army supplies chiefly, but it might as well have 
been some other element in Bismarck's policy of reconstruction. 
Government would not reduce demands. Landtag refused to 
meet them. The Upper House agreed with the king. Here 
was a situation unprovided for by the constitution. What could 
be done ? Bismarck said, The way is plain, seeing there is only 
one way possible. King and House of Peers make two to Land- 
tag's one. The majority shall control. Prussia, Germany, the 
world will hold us responsible for proper performance of state 
duty We will perform our duty without the lower house, see- 
ing it refuses to do its part. There was a serious side to the 
problem. The Landtag had already voted by a heavy majority 
(274 to 45) that ministers should be held responsible with their 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 283 

persons and fortunes for unconstitutional expenditures " It is 
for genms to justify its own projects by their execution " Sue 
cess saved B.sn.arck. After Sadowa acts of indenu.ity tre 
passed, B,s„,arck reiterating his regrets at having been obWd 

th;ro~:t^°"^""''°"' '-'---^ ^^^^^-^^-^ "-^ ~ 

*Of 1863. Prussia saw too well the result to herself to con 
ternp ate calmly the possibility of the rebellion becon. Ig a r vo-' 
lution. Independence of Russian Poland would mean shortly 

dependence of Prussian Poland or war. Bismarck intin.ated 

d a:ed";a;"a:"''d°"" '; ^"^'"" ^-™P^*>- ™* P°'-'<^. ^ 
pro ^nct 7 ■"'dependent Poland, referring now to Rus, ian 

Lr , ;r ' '""^^"^'^ '" '"""'^^ '" "-^ P"--" -my of 



briefly. In ,511, century these duchies were united not to be 

sSlTr^'^'' "°"^' ^='"^^"'S ''-'' ^ «^^ °f Denma k, Hoi! 
stem of Ger„,any. Peter III of Russia, heir of Holstein, sold it 
to Denn,ark, wh.ch now held both duchies. The old Da, s 
'lynasty gave s.gns of dying. This, con.ing in well with libera 
moven,entsof ,M, en.boldened the duchfes to hope for i,," 
fhe dTI:; " "".""' T^'^'^''- ^'"^ '>°P«= was quashed l^ 
Denma k s'hf "'"''="°°'^ '" "--P°-'e theduchies into 

Denmark-Schleswtg at ouce, Holstein to follow later Ger- 

ported tt"'' "T ":"' tl'-atened, and the Confederation sup- 
ported the revolt wh.ch at once broke out in both duchies 
Austna and Prussia were d.rected by the Diet to serve process 
on Denmark wh.ch they did effectively. The duchies were 
declared free fron> Denmark. Government in them was to be 
adnnmstered jointly by the two victorious powers 

1 hough tins was a by no means despicable factor. The situ- 
ation was about this: Prussia wanted the duchies. Austria 
cared nothing for the territory herself, but could not afford to let 

Germ!,'; h"'" "^ ""^"^ ■"' '"'" "^""°"'^" ''"^»"'°" »«^ "'«' of 
German hegemony, which might as well be fought out on this 
question as on any other. 



39 



284 THK ge:rman empire. 



SEC. 15. NORTH GERMAN CONFEDERATION. 

The old Confederation, impossible henceforth, was 
supplanted by a new. Austria formally recognized the 
situation and agreed to the reorganization of Germany 
without her. Schleswig-Holstein, Hanover, Hesse- 
Cassel, Hesse-Homburg, Nassau, and Frankfort were 
incorporated into Prussia, incorporation alone properly 
safeguarding Prussia from Austrian and Danish intrigue, 
and from dangerous independence at her doors. The 
other northern states formed a confederation under 
leadership of Prussia. The south German states, 
Bavaria, Wiirtemberg, Baden, and Hesse-Darmstadt, 
formed a group by themselves. The large German 
population of Austria was denationalized. Omnis Ger- 
mania hi tres partes divisa est. Here was change, but 
neither unity nor finalit}^ Of the three divisions the 
Northern Confederation was strongest and promised 
most. It had a Diet elected b}^ universal suffrage, and 
a senate representing the different rulers. Bismarck 
was Chancellor. The King of Prussia was President. 
The Bund was closely united by consolidation of mili- 
tary, telegraph, and postal systems under direction of 
Berlin, and by making the Customs Union coextensive 
with political. Significant from this point of view was" 
admission of South German group to Zollverein, on 
basis of secret treaties bj^ which the southern states 
were to join their forces to those of the Confederation 
in case of war.' Thus the dream of the men of '48'^ 
came true to the men of '67.'^ 

^ Here was the secret of Napoleon's egregious blunder. He 
recalled the ^reat days of the First Nap.oleon when Southern 
Germans, in the Confederation of the Rhine, were proud of 



I 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 285 

affiliation with France. Thus he persuaded himself of two 
errors — one, that he was as big a man as his uncle ; the other, 
that Germans were the same men they were in 1807 and 1812. 
Both errors were costly, as the event proved. 

^ There is something pathetic about the failure of '48. " Du bist 
mir nah, und doch so fern " might the patriot of that day have 
sung to the goddess of political reform. The scheme was out- 
lined all right, Diet henceforth of two houses — a popular assem- 
bly and a senate half popular, in that half its members were to 
be delegates of state legislatures, the other half appointees of 
state governments. The organization was there, but not the 
power to use it. The new constitution actually came to noth- 
ing for the simple reason that those who made it could not set 
it going. 

^How different the situation in '67 ! King Frederick William 
IV was tendered the imperial crown under the lifeless consti- 
tution of '48 and refused it, not because he was pusillanimous, 
as some have said, but because Austria and several other states 
flatly declared that they would not obey a straw emperor. There 
is no emperor as yet in '67. All other hopes are realized, how- 
ever, and the imperial crown is nearly ready. 



SEC. 16. THE REMAINING OUEvSTION SETTLED. 

In a sense German movement toward Prussian he- 
gemony and confederation was a domestic affair. Aus- 
tria had been beaten into exclusion from Germany, 
which henceforth was to go its w^ay without her. From 
that quarter the new Germany had nothing more to fear. 
But how about the rest of the world, particularly France ? 
The rapid rise of Prussia was a surprise and disappoint- 
ment to Napoleon III, whose policy aimed at a weak- 
ened Austria and a divided Germany. Austria had 
been weakened, but Germany was not divided. Ger- 
many was not even as divided as Napoleon thought. 
North and south were not united, but the Hues of union 
were already laid, and Napoleon's scheme of a new Con- 



286 THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 

federation of the Rliine to be France's tool had been 
already wiped from the programme of fate, although 
Napoleon had not yet learned the fact. This was un- 
fortunate — for Napoleon. If Prussia had been less 
strong and the North German Confederation less real 
and South Germany less loyal ! But tarnished arms 
and worsted politics urged Napoleon on. When war 
is desired the occasion is never long wanting, and both 
France and Prussia desired war, the one for reassured 
dominion, the other for vindication. A new Spanish 
succession brought the issue, ^ but it might as easily 
have been something else.'^ At any rate, in 1870, the 
war came. It was the story of 1866 over again, with 
a French application.^ Thus the question of German 
sufficiency had found answer without as well as within. 
Both answers were definite, conclusive, final. 

^ See chapter x, section 11, 11. 7. Queen Isabella had been 
driven from Spain in 1868. The Spanish Cortes, desirous of 
maintaining the throne, but anxious for a new occupant, offered 
the crown to Prince lycopold Hoheuzollern. The French min- 
ister at Madrid reported the crown accepted. Immediately 
France was in a blaze, seeing in the transaction fresh evidence 
of Prussian influence, and, indeed, a Hohenzollern dynasty on 
both sides of France, was scarcely more tolerable than the Haps- 
burg rule at once of Austria and Spain. As a matter of fact, 
Leopold declined, but France took immediate advantage of the 
incident to attempt the humiliation of her new rival. 

■^ French ambition and unrest were at the bottom of the whole 
trouble. Napoleon III had not grown in the public eye of late. 
The opposition, hailing any pretext, made a savage attack upon 
the government, charging it with want of firmness, putting the 
Emperor on his mettle. Around the Euiperor was a throng of 
courtiers and adventurers who regarded the eighteen years of 
comparative freedom from war as lost years. These, with one 
accord, called for war. Hatred of Bismarck helped. The fact 
that Prussia was the natural leader of Protestantism on the con- 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 287 

tineiit did not make her growing prominence any more ac- 
ceptable to the French clerical party, and they strengthened 
the resolution of the Emperor. Empress Eugenie also was 
credited with spurring on Napoleon. The misreported and 
grossly exaggerated interview at Ems set the people aflame for 
defense of French honor. Taking all together, it is hard to see 
how Napoleon could have withheld declaration of war except 
at cost of revolution. 

^ Uniting the new Germany against a foreign foe. There can 
be little doubt that the Prussian government welcomed the test. 
The great difference between the challenge and the acceptance 
was that the former was a piece of bravado based on ignorance 
of the facts ; the latter showed the quiet of perfect readiness, 
national enthusiasm tempered only by a sense of responsibility 
wholly creditable to a nation steadied thereby for the accom- 
plishment of a fateful task. 



17. A RACE BECOME A NATION. 

Germany had stopped one step short of unit}'. That 
step too was taken. The southern states astonished 
Napoleon by proving German when the test came. They 
gave additional proof b}^ complete assimilation ^ with 
the northern states, forming one Germany instead of 
two. Verbal revision fitted the constitution to the 
changed order, the President was given the imperial 
title, Bund was renamed Empire. Otherwise every- 
thing went on as before, showing how thoroughly the 
work of unification had been done." Proclamation of 
the Empire was made at Versailles January 18, 1871. 
By the irony of fate, the palace walls within which Ger- 
many's ruin had. more than once been planned were the 
first to echo the proclamation of her triumph. 

So the work of centuries was at last completed It 
was a great work, long and slow in the doing. Look- 
ing back, we can see how it might have been done in 



288 THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 

less time and at less cost. But the main fact is that the 
work has been done. Europe and the world are better 
for it. The new Empire has gone about its tasks 
strongly and wisely. A third of a century has recorded 
progress in every department of social, industrial, and 
political life. With its magnificent army, its formid- 
able navy, and its unmatched civil service, it commands 
respect at home and abroad. 

1 Bavaria memorialized her king, I^ouis II, in 1870, nrging 
union with the North German Confederation. Three months 
later the other southern states followed Bavaria's example. 
November 30 King Ivouis proposed to the other southern princes 
and to the three free cities, that all Germany be united under 
the headship of the King of Prussia as Bmperor. They as- 
sented. The North German Diet indorsed the movement. To 
Louis of Bavaria fell the honor of tendering the imperial dig- 
nity to King William I, henceforth Emperor of Germany. 

^ Here was no miscreation, after the fashion of the Holy Roman 
Empire, with its divided interests and impossible ideals, but a 
true state, organized for political ends. For more than a thou- 
sand years Germany had followed phantoms, stumbling over 
the realities that lay at her very feet. Europe has seen no better 
day in centuries than that on which Germany awoke from her 
dreams to conscious national life. 



CHAPTER XIIL 



England Since Thirteen Hundred. 



SEC. I. THE LAST THREE PLANTAGENETS. 

Earlier development is outlined in discussion of the 
central power.' Edward II (1307-1327) inherited 
from Edward I only his name and his crown. The 
qualities which made the English Justinian great died 
with him. England fell on eval da3'S. Worthless 
favorites ' conspired with a worthless queen '^ to shame 
England and undo the king. Scottish valor wrote 
Bannockburn^ upon the page of Scottish glor\% recov- 
ering all that the great Edward had wTested from them. 
The king was forced to abdicate in favor of his son.'^ 
Shortly afterward he was visited by the conveniently 
sudden death which so often claims dethroned kings." 
Edward III (1327-1377) in his appeal to the nation to 
remove an unworthy king had already on his accession 
recognized the paramount authority of Parliament. 
Further gain for Parliament" came from king's passion 
to win France. To get money for his wars he was 
willing to concede any point. . In spite, therefore, of 
repeated royal high-handedness,^ the cause of popular 
government prospered. Strongly supported by his 
able son,'^ Edward smote France with disaster. Crecy ^^ 
and Poictiers" are still proud names to Enghshmen. 
Many a shadow darkened PM ward's last days. The 
Black Prince died, to the sorrow of Edward and the 
40 (289) 



290 ENGI.AND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 

kingdom. The place in the king's heart so long and 
so well filled by Philippa fell after her death to the 
unworth^^^■"^ The proud intellect and the prouder will 
bowed to the dust, and the long, strong reign ended in 
grief and gloom. 

Richard II (i 377-1 399) reigned twenty-two 5^ears, 
and tasted trouble every year of the twenty-two. A 
governmental nonentity ^^ until he came of age in 
1389, a constitutionalist of varying moods until 1397, 
he then became an out-and-out absolutist.'* England 
was not prepared for that, and rallied to the support of 
the Duke of Lancaster,'^ who returned from banishment 
to recover his estates ^^ and to claim the crown. Par- 
liament declared Richard "useless, incompetent, and 
altogether insufficient and unworthy, ' ' and deposed him. 
Another conveniently sudden death removed him alto- 
gether.'" 

^See chapter VI, sees. 13, 14. 

'^ First, Piers Gavestoii, a Gascon, banished twice at instiga- 
tion of nobles, twice recallerl by king, who could deny him 
nothing ; finally, beheaded by angered nobles. Then the De- 
spensers, father and son, ran same course of insolence as Gaves- 
ton, to find at last the gibbet. 

^Isabella of France left king for Lord Mortimer, and took 
forward part in dethronement of her husband. 

* 13 14. Edward I on death-bed charged his son to crush Scot- 
tish revolt, giving dead king's bones place at head of advancing 
army. The new king abandoned the war and buried his father's 
bones. Bruce, whose coronation at Scone had roused the old 
warrior from, a death-bed, pushed Scottish conquest until the 
craven young English king was obliged to move north to save 
Stirling. Though leading 100,000 troops, he was utterly defeated 
at Bannockburn by Bruce with 40,000 Scots. 

^ Queen Isabella, her son, and Mortimer conspired in France 
and invaded England with French following. The king fled, 
then surrendered ; whereupon Parliament declared his son king 
in his stead. 



ENGLAND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 291 

^ For the better part of a year he was shifted from castle to 
castle. Then within the walls of Berkeley, in Bristol, he met 
death. How, no man knows. Shrieks from the castle told on 
a certain night that some deed of blood was being accomplished. 
The next morning the king was dead, with features frightfully 
distorted. 

^Seated by Parliament, Edward III could not consistently 
check it overmuch. More general than statesman, he was con- 
tent to let Parliament make laws while he fought. Forty-eight 
sessions were held and organization was completed. Taxation 
was recognized as a prerogative of Parliament, as well as specific 
appropriation and audit of royal accounts. 

** More than half justified, like seizing of supplies, by neces- 
sities of war too pressing to await ordinary legislative move- 
ment. 

^ The Black Prince, a born fighter, winning spurs at Crecy, 
died 1367, worn out. 

^^ 1346. Won by greatly outnumbered English yeomen against 
French chivalry. One of the two or three actions which proved 
feudalism a ruined system. 

*' 1356. Victory again for bowmen under Black Prince, though 
outnumbered seven to one. 

^'' Most noteworthy was Alice Powers, beautifvil but bad. In 
her train come many parasites. "Bribery, peculation, fraud, 
every form of corruption, was rife at court." 

^^ He was only ten at accession. Twelve years afterward he 
threw off leading-strings, having meanwhile submitted to di- 
rection of ministers or relatives. 

^* Broke power of parliamentary commission that was carry- 
ing on the government only to find, greatly to his surprise, that 
the people were glad to have a real king. Before long he was 
ruling as arbitrarily in name of Parliament as before Parliament 
had ruled arbitrarily in his name. Put counties out of law at 
will, raised loans by force, ev^ compelling victims to sign and 
seal blank promises, to be filled up at royal pleasure ; levied 
taxes as he liked, imprisoned without warrant, seized estates 
without law. 

^» Duke of Hereford, son of John of Gaunt, Duke of lyancaster, 
so grandson of Edward III and cousin of the king. 

^^ Confiscated by Richard. 

" In Pontefract Castle, either by starvation or assassination. 



292 ENGLAND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 



SEC. 2. THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER. 

Henry IV, 1399-14 13. The crown sat uneasily on 
the head of the new king. Before his murder the 
deposed Richard had been the object of a formidable 
rising.^ After death his ghost would not stay laid, 
walking by turns in Ireland, Scotland, "■^ and England. 
Wales rose in revolt under Owen Glendower and of- 
fered successful resistance throughout the entire reign. ^ 
Scotland profited by the Welsh troubles, but was beaten 
back,* and suffered the humiliation, proved an immense 
advantage afterward, of seeing her heir apparent a pris- 
oner and pupil of England.^ Fourteen years on an un- 
steady throne wore Henry out, and he died at West- 
minster Abbey, *'i4i3. 

Henry V, 1413-1422, a youth of scant promise, was 
transformed into a high-minded prince, a l^rave war- 
rior, a wise ruler, a nation's idol, in the person of Henry 
V.^ His title, unlike his father's, was unquestioned. 
Hastily ordering the affairs of the kingdom, he threw 
himself into the French conflict, now complicated by 
an imbecile king.® Harfieur was quickly followed by 
Agincourt. Domestic faction '■• distracted France and 
mightily aided Henry. In 1420 the Treaty of Troyes ^^ 
gave him Princess Catherine and the succession to the 
French crown. England was wild with joy, little real- 
izing the future of the British Isles if continental 
dominion were assured. f)eath saved both England 
and I;rance. 

Henry VI, 1422-1461. Able men were left, but the 
directing eye and controlling will were gone, and 
the king was an infant nine months old. Parlia- 
ment appointed a Council of Regency,, with the king's 



KNGIyAND SINCK THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 293 

Uncle Bedford governor of France, Uncle Gloucester 
governor of England. Divided counsels among Eng- 
lishmen, renewed patriotism among Frenchmen, in- 
spired and led by Joan of Arc, reduced English 
power in France first to defense, then to despair. 
The farce of coronation availed nothing. The royal 
mind, never strong, gave way. Province after 
province was lost. Even the king's marriage" 
brought loss of territory. Shame at defeat and loss, 
oppression under war costs of men and money, dislike 
of the queen, contempt for the king, general aristocratic 
vagabondage, •'■^ unceasing selfishness and strife within 
the royal family ^^ filled England with discontent. The 
general disorder took form about Richard Duke of 
York.^^ The king's infirmit}^ made necessary a protect- 
orate, a need not lessened by the birth of a son in 1453. 
York sought and gained the protectorate. Margaret, 
able enough to be both king and queen, gave him battle, 
but York succeeded in remaining at the head of the 
government, except during Henry's rare lucid inter- 
vals. From protector, York aspired to be king. Vic- 
tory gave him power to dictate conditions, and he 
elected to succeed Henry, thus barring Henry's son. 
This Margaret could not endure. Richard fell, leaving 
his son Edward heir of his quarrel and of his claims. 
At Towton Field Edward settled the one and established 
the other, having already been declared king b}^ accla- 
mation of London. 

^ Early in 1400. This doubtless had something to do with 
Richard's death. 

'^A Scotch legend told how the deposed king fled to the North 
country and subsisted long on Scottish bounty, d} ing at last at 
Stirling, 

^Glendower had been educated in England and had served 
at court of Richard II. On his return, angered by sequestra- 



294 KNGI.AND SINCK THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 

tion of part of his estate by a friend of the king, he took arms 
and for many years was a thorn in the side of the English king- 
dom. 

*At Shrewsbury, 1403. This battle at the same time quelled 
the Percy uprising. 

^The lad was on his way to France, partly to be educated and 
partly to be safe from schemes of nobles. A storm drove him 
upon the English coast. He was captured and for nineteen 
years studied English laws and customs. On his return in 1424 
he found his study invaluable, enabling him to go intelligently 
to task of reshaping social and political life of Scotland. 

*He died in the Jerusalem Chamber, so in a way fulfilling 
prophecy cherished through life, that he should die at Jerusalem. 

'' Probably the very escapades which discouraged his father 
and alienated the people were due to overflowing life. It was 
the same restlessness, directed through different channels, that 
brought him his renown. 

8 Charles VI. 

^Two parties divided France — the Armagnacs or Orleanists, 
representing feudal nobility, and the Burgundians, representing 
chiefly the towns. After civil war had gone on for years the 
two parties were on point of coalescing under pressure of com- 
mon danger, when the Duke of Burgundy was treacherously 
murdered by vindictive adherent of nmrdered Duke of Orleans. 
The Burgundians, burning for revenge, immediately threw them- 
selves into Henry's arms. The Dauphin belonged to the Orleans 
party, a fact which makes his exclusion by the Treaty of Troyes 
the more explicable. 

'"Providing: i. Henry was to marry Princess Catherine; 2. 
Was to be regent during imbecile Charles' life ; 3. On death of 
Charles was to be king of France. 

'^ In 1445, with Margaret of Anjou. Instead of bringing dowry, 
the marriage contract restored Anjou and Maine, the keys of 
Normandy, to Duke Rene. The English never forgave this 
injury. 

'2 After so long camp life, settled conditions must have seemed 
irksome in any case. In addition we must note disappointing 
close of struggle, broken fortunes, general dissatisfaction at im- 
potent king and landless queen, and resulting disorder of king- 
dom among the elements from which grew civil war, now so few 
years distant. 



ENGLAND SINCE THIRTEKN HUNDRED. 295 

^^ Somerset, head of Lancastrian House, had ear of royal pair, 
but was not greatly trusted by people. 

'* Heir apparent, king still being without issue, able, and gen- 
erally welcome to opponents of both Somerset and court. 



SEC. 3. THE HOUSE OF YORK. 

Edward IV, 1461-1483. Coronation followed, but 
not peace. Parliament did its best to restore order by 
declaring Edward king by hereditary right, ^ the three 
Lancastrian Henr^^s being usurpers. In addition Henry 
VI and his queen were proclaimed traitors. Then 
Edward proceeded to prove that he was not the king 
England needed.' The Lancastrian forces were still 
in motion. Scotland was unsettled. Petty rebellions 
kept breaking out. A strong king would have readily 
settled all these troubles. Edward, recking little what 
the state needed, bartered the support of his strongest 
nobles for thoroughly selfish ends.'^ His impolitic mar- 
riage* threw the Nevilles, headed by Warwick,^ into op- 
position. Joining hands*' in 1471, Margaret and War- 
wick drove Edward from the kingdom. A ready 
Parliament revised its former judgment and fixed the 
crown in restored Henry's' line. Six months later 
Edward was on the throne once more. King Henry 
suddenly died in the Tower, of ' ' pure displeasure and 
melancholy." His son had been murdered after the 
battle of Tewkesbury. Clarence, Edward's brother, 
Parliament's nominee after Henry's line, was put to 
death. Edward was free from rivals henceforth. A 
questionable compromise with Scotland and a disgrace- 
ful peace with France^ chiefly marked the remaining 
years of a reign which added nothing memorable to 
English history. 



2g6 ENGLAND vSINCK THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 

Edward V, 1483. English records show no darker 
page than that which tells of the broken faith of Richard 
Gloucester, ending in the death of the little princes in 
the tower. The lad of twelve, who bore the name 
of king, w^as a prisoner during the seventy-eight 
da}' s of his nominal reign. 

Richard III, 1483-1485. The heart of the people 
Richard never had. That of the nobility he lost al- 
most before he was crowned king. The death of the 
little princes, universally credited to him, awakened 
universal horror. Henry of Richmond, heir of the 
Lancastrian House, betrothed to Yorkist princess 
Elizabeth, was welcomed by the kingdom. Richard 
met at once defeat and death at his hands on Bosworth 
Field. 

^ Descended from Edward III through Lionel, elder brother 
of John of Gaunt, through whom his rival held throne. 

'•^ A far less able man than his father, who fell at Wakefield 
Green the year before. " He was swift in action when a crisis 
came, and was cruel in his revenge, but he was lustful and in- 
dolent when the crisis was passed, and he had no statesmanlike 
abilities to lay the foundations of a powerful government." 

^ Comparable with no king since John for want of sense of 
responsibility toward people and for littleness of gratitude to- 
ward helpers. His chief talent was for extortion. No class 
escaped. Rich and poor were liable to lose all. Pressure fitted 
need. "The rich were hanged by the purse and the poor by 
the neck." 

* With Lady Elizabeth Gray, widowed daughter of a knight 
named Woodville. Tradition has it that the king, repelled in 
an attempt on her virtue, was carried by his passion to the 
length of espousing her. "Too low to be your wife, too high 
to be your concubine," was her answer to solicitation. Her 
humility yielded, though her virtue would not, and she became 
queen, an unpardonable offense to the higher nobles. The 
transaction was more creditable to the royal heart than to the 
royal head, especially as it was followed by unstinted distribu- 



KNGLAND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 297 

tion of honors and estates among the newly made relatives, 
intensifying ill-will, already too deep. No unimportant element 
was additional fact that while, unbeknown to him, the king was 
courting Elizabeth Wood ville, Warwick was negotiating a French 
match, the resulting embarrassment in no way inceasing warmth 
of Warwick's support. 

5 A Yorkist, strongest supporter of duke and king. By prop- 
erty and marriage he was related to so large a proportion of both 
nobles and commons that it was said half England would rise 
at his word. 

^Margaret's son Edward was married to Anne, Warwick's 
daughter. 

^ For five years had been imprisoned in Tower. 

« Treaty of Pecquiguy, 1475. i. Louis was to pay 75,000 
crowns at once and a yearly pension of 50,000. 2. Truces and 
free trade were assured for seven years. 3. Dauphin should 
marry Edward's daughter Elizabeth. 



SEC. 4. THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 

The Houses of York and Lancaster together reigned 
eighty-six years, 1399-1485. I'he last thirty years of 
this double period forms a unit, at once connecting and 
dividing Plantagenet and Tudor dynasties. From 1455 
to 1485 was waged England's Thirty Years' War. 
The struggle bears name from emblems of two parties.^ 
I . Causes. ( i ) The Hundred Years' War with France 
was practically over, England beaten everywhere. 

(2) Crecy, Poictiers, Agincourt reminded Englishmen 
that once great victories had been won on French soil. 

(3) Ignoring fact that English conquest of France had 
been nearest completion under Lancastrian Henry V, 
loud murmurs were heard that Lancastrian arms were 
weak, as witness imbecile Henry VI, whose ministers 
and generals had been forced everywhere to give way. 

(4) A multitude of fighting men thrown back upon 

41 



298 ENGLAND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 

England could not find support in peace/ (5) Amid 
all the disturbance, men remembered that Henr}^ IV was 
a usurper'' and gave tongue to longing for the better 
days of Edward III, so ill represented b}^ the reigning 
sovereign. (6) There was a line, the Yorkist, wdth 
better title in blood than the Lancastrian. (7) The 
king was childless until 1453, b}^ which time the suc- 
cession had been hotly, if silently, contested between 
Somerset and York. (8) The king's imbecility fur- 
nished occasion for taking timely possession of govern- 
ment. (9) Somerset slain and York's ambition un- 
masked, struggle was open and avowed between York, 
claiming from the old line, and Prince Edward, as his 
father's son. 2. Character, Preeminently, almost 
exclusively, a baronial war. It was feudal daj^s re- 
turned. The common people suffered, of course, but 
onl}^ incidentalh^ Nobles and their retainers did prac- 
tically all the fighting. 3. Results, (i) Dynastic 
change from Lancaster to York, with final triumph of 
Lancaster in Henry Tudor ; triumph happily softened 
by fusion of contesting lines. (2) Industrial. A coun- 
try ravaged by war cannot prosper. Hunger, want, 
pestilence did their work between battles, slaying more 
men even than the battles. In many cases those left 
were weakened by breaking down of moral restraints. 
(3) Social. Feudalism renewed and then destroyed 
itself. The great families were nearly all cut off by 
death or attainder, estates escheating to crown. Only 
twenty-nine barons were summoned to first Parliament 
of Henry VII. (4) Constitutional. The barons had 
been England's bulwark against prerogative. Their 
annihilation boded little good for the future. Royal des- 
potism during the next century was built upon aristo- 
cratic ruin now accomplished. 



ENGLAND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 299 

^ Ramsay insists that " Wars of the Roses" is a misnomer.' 
"During the civil war there was but one rose, the white rose 
of York. There was no Lancastrian rose ; the red rose of the 
House of Tudor first appeared on Bosworth Field." 

'^ Fighting hal)its could not be thrown off in a day. Besides, 
estates had been ruined in preparation for a war of glory which 
turned into a war of disaster, with no opportunity for repairing 
broken fortunes. 

3 In that he was descended through younger son while stock 
of older was still living. To Henry's credit, however, must be 
set action of Parliament, whose word made him king, whoever 
or whatever he was before. 



SEC. 5. THE TUDOR SPIRIT. 

The Tudor dynasty was doubly fortunate, i. It 
had an opportunity. The blood-letting of thirty years, 
while draining England of much she would have been 
the better for keeping, freed her finally from feudalistic 
disturbance.' So greatly had the nation suffered from 
noble oppression that it was ready to endure worse op- 
pression from the king, provided he wotild safeguard 
it from return of old order. -^ Tudor monarchs could 
do without protest ^ things which even the mighty Ed- 
ward could not have done without revolt. 2. It was 
represented by sovereigns equal to the opportunity. 
Personally strong, one after the other they promptly 
suppressed all show of resistance in the remnants of 
nobility, but studied to conciliate and direct the popu- 
lar will. A new order of great houses * strengthened 
the throne. Each Ttidor had part in carrying on the 
mission of the house toward England. Henry VII se- 
cured the throne and laid up treasure for its further 
establishment. Henry VIII called the nation to eccle- 
siastical independence. Edward VI organized the new 
religious life. Mary I consolidated the nation and set- 



300 ENGLAND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 

tied its faith, though not as she had willed.^ Elizabeth 
called out new national feeling, her reign standing as 
one of the great landmarks of English history. Tudor 
rule was mainly absolutism veiled under constitutional 
forms," strong because exercised by able sovereigns, 
who knew how to keep clear way to the heart of the 
people. 

^ Warwick was virtually the last of the great feudal lords of 
England, With all his admirable qualities, and he had many — 
"grandeur, generosity, eloquence, courage, businesslike activ- 
ity, accessibility" — it must be remembered that he was the 
representative of feudal tradition and chief of tlie feudal party. 
Sooner or later the feudal idea had to go, everywhere. In 
England it went through the Wars of the Roses. , 

2 With all his faults, and he had many — lust, cruelty, exac- 
tion, absolutism —Edward IV represented the party of progress, 
the party of the town, of commerce. It was a principle, not a 
man, that conquered. One master is better than many. 

^ Witness the extortions of Henry VII, the one-man legisla- 
tion, of Henry VIII, the high-handedness of Elizabeth. 

* Raised chiefly upon ruin of niona.steries. The Tudor nobil- 
ity, so far from menacing the throne as the old order might 
have done, was a source of strength, being the creation of the 
reigning house, besides being pledged to maintenance of new 
order by personal interest. Jurisdiction of Pope renewed, they 
would doubtless have lost their newl}^ acquired lands. 

^ Manifest purpose to turn England over to Rome again, en- 
forced by marriage of queen with most powerful Catholic sov- 
ereign in world, alarmed Enc^lishmen, Catholics almost as much 
as Protestants, and fixed the convictions of many hitherto un- 
decided. 

*The wildest flights of Henry VIII were legally authorized. 
About 1539 Parliament enacted that royal proclamations should 
have force of regular laws. The Czar of Russia, the Shah of 
Persia, or the Sultan of Turkey has no greater stretch of author- 
ity than that. Of course, the secret lay in subservie*icy of Par- 
liament, ready to legalize any course the sov^ereign proposed. 



ENGLAND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. "^OI 



SEC. 6. HENRY, FATHER AND SON. 

Henr}^ VII, 1 485-1 509, had multifold claim to crown : 
I. Conquest at Bosworth Field. 2. The papal bull. 
3. Marriage right through Elizabeth of York. 4. His 
own Lancastrian descent. 5. Election by Parliament. 
Still, he had won his way as head of a faction, and 
factional opposition could hardl}^ be expected to die 
with his coronation. For fifteen years he was busied 
with insurrection.^ From 1500 on he had peace, giving 
play at once to the best and worst elements in his 
character. The Star Chamber '^ became a name of curs- 
ing afterward, but under Henry VII it stood for un- 
bought justice.^ The people had, what they had not 
had for three-quarters of a century and what they most 
needed, firm government. The Law of Treasons* in- 
telligently defined loyalt}^ English commercial enter- 
prise was encouraged. On the other hand, Henry is 
the one English king stigmatized as avaricious.^ The 
extortions of Empson and Dudley^ and the imposition 
of a second English marriage upon Spanish princess 
Catherine," to save her dowry, speak most plainly for 
the darker side of the reign. 

Henry VIII, 1509-1547. Handsome, liberal, gifted, 
popular, the j^oung king mounted a throne buttressed 
by the prayers and sympathies of a united people. 
Vigor at home and abroad, directed mainly by the 
great Wolsey,^ gave notice that England was on her 
way to claim a forward part in the world's politics. 
Imperial ^ and ecclesiastical '° politics for a time gave 
precedence to foreign interests. Then questions in 
double sense domestic called attention homeward. The 
bright eyes of Anne Boleyn disturbed what Henry 



302 ENGI.AND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 

called his conscience. Heart-broken Catherine was 
disowned. ^^ Out of the divorce controversy grew still 
larger problems, issuing in breach with Rome. Then 
for twenty years what time the king could spare from 
matrimonial experiments''^ he devoted to reforming the 
faith of the nation, beheading recalcitrant Catholic and 
Protestant with equal zeal for truth /'^ hewing his way to 
headship of a National Church, seating Pope Henry in 
place of Pope Clement, suppressing the monasteries, cir- 
culating the Bible. Not wholly engrossed in religious 
pursuits, he won honor in unimportant wars with France, 
Scotland, and Ireland.'* No sovereign has affected En- 
glish history more deeply than Henry VIII. This was 
due partly to the lot that made him a factor in the Refor- 
mation movement, partly to unquestioned ability as man 
and as king, partly to success in satisfying the heart of 
the nation, which repaid his eminent service by legiti- 
mizing his most arbitrary deeds. 

^ Minor risings in Yorkshire under Lord Lovel and in Worces- 
tershire under the Staffords ; Lambert Sininel, personating im- 
prisoned Earl of Warwick, proclaimed Edward VI in Ireland, 
i486; Perkin Warbeck, personating the younger of the princes 
of the Tower, 1492-1499 ; Cornish revolt against taxation to 
repel Scottish invasion in interest of Warbeck, 1496. All were 
put down. Lovel escaped to France, the elder Stafford was 
hanged, Simnel became scullion in king's kitchen, Warbeck 
was hanged, the Cornishmen were quieted and their leaders 
executed. 

^ So called from hangings of room in which the tribunal sat. 

^ Ordinary courts had become grossly subject to influence. 
Conviction of a powerful criminal was almost impossible. To 
correct this miscarriage of justice, Henry utilized the judicia 
character of the Council to form a court too august to be over- 
awed. Apparently this court was constituted out of the Council 
and two special appointees. 

* Adherence to a de facto sovereign does not constitute treason 



ENGLAND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 303 

toward a de jure. " No person attending upon the king and 
sovereign lord of this iRiid /or f/te time being, and doing him 
true and faithful service, shall be convicted of high treason b}^ 
act of Parliament or other process of law, nor suffer any for- 
feiture or punishment." 

^Bore hard on pockets of people, but saved them war taxes 
as the king loved money too much to risk spending it fighting. 
The unfortunate side was failure to see that, important as is a 
well-filled exchequer, more important still is good will of sub- 
jects, and that good will Henry's greed and stinginess forfeited, 
n^awyers whom Henry made finance ministers. They were 
especially successful in reviving forgotten laws touching fines 
and like matters in the interest of the king. Morton's fork also 
impaled many. Morton— privy councillor, cardinal, chancellor, 
Archbishop of Canterbury — had unanswerable argument for all 
cases. To the rich he urged that, having so nmeh to spend, they 
must be glad to aid king ; to the poor, that living so inexpen- 
sively they must have saved much to share with king. 

^ Daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella. Yovmg Arthur lived 
less than six months after the marriage. The natural course 
would have been return of Catherine to Spain. Henry, how- 
ever, could not bring himself to give up money, and Ferdinand 
wanted England's aid against France. Both ends were reached 
by remarriage of Catherine to Prince Henry. 

^ Won royal favor by ability and easy manners. Though an 
ecclesiastic, he was fitted, after fashion of time, for state min- 
ister and did not scruple to participate in court revels. Henry 
made him Archbishop of York and Chancellor of England. 

9 Francis I of France and Charles V of Spain were rivals for 
Holy Roman crown. Henry's support was considered impor- 
tant^ and he was vigorously courted by each contestant, and 
favored each in turn— first Charles, who won contest ; then, 
after disastrous failure of Francis at Pavia, 15.25, Francis. It 
must be confessed, however, that Henry's support counted little 
in long run. 

^0 Wolsey aspired to papacy. Charles' promise of aid to this 
ambition really determined Henry's— that is, Wolsey's— alli- 
ance with Charles in 1520. 

^^A damnable piece of business, however viewed. Either 
Henry's protest against the marriage at outset was mere trick 



304 ENGLAND SINCK THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 

to enable him to back out with show of faith if he wanted to, 
or he should not have consummated the marriage. He did 
consummate the marriage and had five children by Catherine. 

"A beastly record: Catherine for twenty-odd years; Anne 
Roleyn, three years ; Jane Seymour, one year ; Anne of Cleves, 
half a year ; Catherine Howard, a 3'ear and a half ; Catherine 
Parr, four years. 

^^ Henry stood midway between the two confessions. For 
believing in Rome he executed Catholics ; for refusing Rome's 
doctrine he executed Protestants. His confession of faith was 
summed up in the Bloody Statute, 1539, six articles: i. The 
real presence. 2. Communion in one kind. 3. Clerical celi- 
bacy. 4. Perpetuity of vows of chastit}-. 5. Private masses. 
6. Auricular confession.' A word against article one meant the 
stake. A first offense against the other five was visited with 
imprisonment and confiscation, a second with hanging. 

'* Getting title King of Ireland acknowledged by Irish Par- 
liament in place of Lord of Ireland, grant of Pope Adrian IV to 
Henry II. Having broken with Rome, Henry VIII preferred a 
title independent of Rome's. 



SEC. 7. THE ENGIvIvSH REFORMATION. 

Italian Renaissance and German Reformation were 
complementar}^ elements of one spiritual movement. 
Intellectual and esthetic revival called for moral re- 
newal. By the time the movement reached England, 
the clearest-eyed saw that the elements belong together. 
The .soul, as supreme, needs a responsive body as its 
partner for the present world, its servant for the world 
to come. Learning and religion are, therefore, matter 
of serious concern. The two interests wrought con- 
jointly in England : Erasmus, Colet, More, standing 
for the Humanists; Cromwell, Cranmer, Latimer, with 
many score beside, for the Reformers. At first not a 
Protestant, but a national church, was designed, with 
reform of morals as needed. Only as breach with Rome 



KNGI.AND SINCK THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 305 

widened was significance of first step realized. Tyn- 
dale's^ Bible, though proscribed, had been much read 
in England, and events on the continent had not taken 
place unnoticed. Political motives^ induced in gov- 
ernment kindly feeling toward reform party. Cover- 
dale's Bible ^ was issued with royal assent. Reinforced 
by refugees* from Germany, and swept on by tide of 
public feeling, the reform party verged toward Protest- 
antism. The new king was well disposed toward 
Protestantism and his chief adviser was avowedly Prot- 
estant. The ritual was performed in the vernacular, 
communion was substituted for the mass, the thirty- 
nine articles^ were formulated. Much of this progress 
was more rapid than the popular mind was prepared to 
follow. When, therefore, a zealously Catholic sovereign 
followed, Catholic reaction was easy.** The Spanish 
marriage^ alarmed Englishmen. Religious persecution 
confirmed their alarm. *^ The tide set again, now more 
strongly than ever, toward the new order. The new 
queen led strongly, influenced more by policy^ than by 
conviction. Within a twelve month England was en- 
rolled among Protestant states. 

^ A young Oxford scholar who published an English New Tes- 
tament in 1526, and selected portions of the Old Testament in 
1530. He was burned at Flanders, 1536. 

2 The Reformation in England was primarily political. The 
headship of the church was too important an office to be neg- 
lected when once its transfer had been conceived as possible. 
The divorce case simply opened a way which, once entered, was 
followed until ecclesiastical independence was accomplished. 

^A complete translation based on Tyndale's, published in 1536, 
the year of T3'ndale's death. By order of the king a copy was 
chained to a pillar or desk in every parish within the kingdom, 
so as to be accessible to all. 

* Intolerance quickly developed among Continental Protest- 
ants even while they were protesting against intolerance of Rome . 
42 



3o6 ENGLAND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 

Calvinists and Lutherans fled from each other, and both from 
Catholics, to find as^^lum in England. These newcomers did 
not leave their faith in crossing the channel. The result was 
a vigorous Protestant propaganda. 

^The national confession of faith, published in forty-two arti- 
cles under Edward VI, revised and reduced to thirt^'-nine under 
Elizabeth, so appearing to this da3\ 

^ Partly because as yet the national mind was not settled in 
revolt from Rome, partly because in Tudor times the will of 
the sovereign prevailed. Parliament finally agreed to acknowl- 
edge spiritual overlordship of Pope, on condition that secular- 
ized estates should not be disturbed. This was an important 
matter, seeing that about forty thousand families were con- 
cerned. 

^ With Philip II of Spain, who thought much of the English 
crown, little of its wearer. Quer}- became common, whether 
England was to become a province of Spain ? 

^Something short of 300 were burned, while many times that 
number suffered in less degree. As comparison is bound to be 
made between the Marian execution of Protestants and the 
Elizabethian execution of Catholics, it may be well to suggest 
a somewhat vital point in which they differed. Burrows in hi^ 
commentaries says: " It is scarcely necessary to warn reason- 
able people that the comparison between Elizabeth's execution 
of Jesuits for high treason and these Marian martyrs, regarding 
it as a mere question of number and balance, is perfectl}^ un- 
tenable. These were the victims of the Inquisition ; those were 
deliberate invaders, in concert with the country's enemies, who 
when caught might have been set free if they would have repu- 
diated the ' Deposing Power of the Pope.' They were conspira- 
tors, gallant men, indeed, but traitors." 

^Elizabeth, always a clear-eyed Tudor, knew that reconcilia- 
tion with Rome was impossible, and that religious union of 
Catholic and Protestant was equally impossible. The nation 
could not go back to days of Henry VIII. Surest support for 
throne clearly was Protestant. So Elizabeth favored Protest- 
antism. At the same time she prevented extreme measures 
against Catholics. National unity was her aim, and to attain 
that she must be queen of both Catholic and Potestant. Her 
moderate but firm policy saved revolution, and, as it proved 
later, saved England. 



ENGLAND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 307 



SEC. 8. ELIZABETH. 

Among other concessions to Henr}^ VIII, Parliament 
authorized his settlement of the succession. This was 
surprising. More surprising still was the fact that 
Henry's will was actually carried out, Edward, Mary, 
and Elizabeth reigning in turn. Edward, 1 547-1 553, 
was a gentle, studious boy, mainl}^ memorable b}^ aid 
to reformation. Mar}^ I, 1553- 1558, lived and died 
unhappy, a discredited daughter,^ an unloved wife,^ a 
thwarted devotee,^ an unsuccessful queen.* Elizabeth, 
1 558-1 603, bears one of the great names among English 
sovereigns. Discreetly moderate in religion, strong- 
willed as ever her father was, but tactful to boot,^ cau- 
tious, steady, she held both Catholic and Protestant 
loyal until both discovered that, in addition to being 
Christians, they were Englishmen." Then putting her- 
self at the head of the nation, she could bid defiance to 
all danger from without." The English spirit broke into 
blossom and bore precious fruit. English discovery 
plowed unknown seas in quest of hidden lands ; ^ En- 
glish valor, backed by wind and wave, annihilated the 
Armada, winning the sovereignty of the sea ; English 
commerce freighted all waters ; English literatufe wrote 
an imperishable record by the pens of Hooker, Spenser, 
Bacon, and Shakespeare. 

^ Of course Heury had disowned her with her mother, though 
afterward he inchided her in the succession after his sou. 

-PhiHp apparently wedded Mary as a matter of state, not of 
affection, although she loved him passionately. Philip came to 
England and was married July, 1554. The following year he 
left his wife and, except for a few days in 1557, never saw her 
again. It was little creditable to Philip that after Mary's death 
he offered his hand, with or without his heart, to her hated half- 
sister and successor, Elizabeth. 



308 ENGI.AND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 

^The papal legate received England's official submission. 
Mary, Philip, and Parliament knelt before him, confessing the 
sin of rebellion and receiving absolution. But the heart of the 
nation was not in the confession, and Mary's rapture was fated 
to die by degrees into despair. 

* She never had the love of her subjects. The loss of Calais, 
1558, English since 1347, affected her so deeply that she believed 
the name of the lost fortress was engraved upon her heart. There 
is something pathetic about her death — " sad and lonely, won- 
dering why all she had done, as she believed, on God's behalf, 
had been followed by failure on every side." 

^ It was fairly characteristic of her life when in her last words 
to the Commons she said, "Though you have had and may have 
many princes more mighty and wise sitting in this seat, yet you 
never had or ever shall have any that will be more careful and 
loving." 

^ England henceforth on high road to modern political state- 
hood. 

^ Among her numerous suitors was Ivan IV of Russia, the 
Terrible. Ivan proposed that each should guarantee the other 
an asylum in case either was driven from throne. Elizabeth 
would not marry him and assured him that her throne was all 
right. 

* These were the days of Hawkins, Frobisher, Drake, Raleigh. 



SEC. 9. THE STUART PROGRAMME. 

The Tudors had been absolutists under form of law. 
The Stuarts inherited the Tudor passion for personal 
rule without the Tudor gift of persuading the national 
will.^ The Tudors had been content with the fact of 
power. The Stuarts insisted upon keeping power in 
sight and talking about it.'"^ The Stuarts, moreover, 
outdid the Tudors in their conception of absolutism. 
To the latter it probably meant only complete sover- 
eignty, having special reference to independence from 
outside interference, much as old-time emperors had 



ENGLAND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 309 

signed themselves, " By the grace of God," to signify 
that they held the crown from the Almighty, not from 
the Pope. To the former an absolute king meant a 
king above and beyond law.'^ The royal will as source 
of law for the state, as measure of doctrine for the 
church,* such was the programme proposed by the 
first Stuart in 161 3 and unweariedly maintained until 
the last real Stuart was banished, in 1688, a programme 
foredoomed to failure because ill-conceived, ill-timed, 
and wholly unsuited to Englishmen of the 17th or any 
later century.^ 

^The imperiousiiess even of Henry VIII and EHzabeth knew 
how to give way gracefully when the popular temper gave signs 
of being too strong to be defied. Not a single Stuart had the 
gift of yielding gracefully to the inevitable. The result was 
that whereas Henry or Elizabeth usually gained the coveted 
end from a people madecomplaisatit by ro^^al concession, every 
Stuart in turn gave way under compulsion, only to get less than 
was first offered. 

■^ The epithet "unfortunate " attaches to the House. But the 
bulk of Stuart disaster was self-imposed. The family were 
never happy in Scotland. The traits which made them a per- 
petual storm center in the North made them worse rather than 
better fitted for an English atmosphere. Trial taught them 
nothing, and they were no wiser after one had lost his throne, 
another his head. 

^ " As it is atheism and blasphemy to dispute what God can 
do," declared James I in the Star Chamber, "so it is presump- 
tion and a high contempt in a subject to dispute what a king 
can do, or to say that a king cannot do this or that." 

* " Do I mak the judges? Do I mak the bishops? Then, 
God's wauns ! I mak what likes me, law and gospel." Such 
were James' words when the scope of the royal prerogative 
came clear to him. Once seen, the vision never faded. 

= No Stuart family understood England. Personal rule had 
been endured for a centur}', partly because unquestioned royal 
authority gave the only guarantee of strong government in the 



3IO ENGLAND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 

crisis through which the nation was passing ; partly because, 
with infinite tact, successive sovereigns kept the popular will 
trained in the direction of the throne. Assured Protestantism, 
intellectual enlightenment, and general quickening of national 
life combined to invoke the spirit of the nation on the coming 
of a new dynasty. The situation was all the less promising for 
absolutism from the fact that the new dynasty came in the 
person of James I. Fate apparently had some grudge against 
him or it would never have put into tlie kingly office a man so 
grotesquely devoid of kingly qualities — big-headed, slobbering 
in speech because of abnormal size of tongue, rickety, unsteady 
of leg, ungraceful of gait, a constitutional coward. Wide read- 
ing, ready wit, and overweening conceit hardly restore the bal- 
ance. James had his mind made up as to prerogative before he 
crossed the border, but he was confirmed in his theory by the 
adulation of English courtiers, who got on their knees to speak 
to him, and pleased his ear by calling him Solomon and the 
Anointed of Heaven. 



vSEC. lO. THE PROGRAMME IN FORCE. 

James I, 1603-1625, was fortunate in coming to the 
throne without a rival. ^ Instead, however, of estab- 
lishing as good a title to the heart of the people as he 
had to the crown, he succeeded throughout his reign 
in ranging great part of the nation against him. 
I. From conviction or from misconception of entire 
religious trend, he threw his weight with the estab- 
lished church and intolerance, increasing stringency of 
laws against Catholics '^ and excluding Puritans from 
hope of favor. ^ 2. Strenuously maintaining the prin- 
ciple of absolute monarchy, he turned over the govern- 
ment to favorites, few of them worthy. 3. Substituting 
royal condemnation for legal judgment, he hurried a 
culprit to the gallows without trial. 4. Ignoring Par- 
liament, he gave proclamations the force of law, levy- 
ing taxes and imposing tariffs. 5. Backed by servile 



ENGLAND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 31! 

courts/ he declared privileges of Commons existent by 
grace, not by right/ 6. The fiasco of the Spanish 
marriage project,' with resultant war, humiliated Eng- 
lishmen, shame lessened only by balancing deliverance 
from peril of Spanish queen in future. 7. ShambUng 
course in Thirty Years' War' alienated many who con- 
demned king's shabby treatment of son-in-law- and 
virtual betrayal of Protestantism. 8. Renewal of old 
abuses'* and multiplication of monopolies^" braced Par- 
liament to reclaim right of impeachment," sweep away 
monopoly, vindicate authority of Lower House over 
its members, and defend liberty of debate.'' So far the 
programme has brought no strength to the crown and 
neither glory nor peace to the people. 

Charles I, 1625-1649, began his reign under guid- 
ance of Buckingham, no better counsellor now than in 
past years. War with France '"' was added to that with 
Spain. Buckingham's death in 1628'* freed the king 
from a minister hated by the nation, but exposed him 
to the odium of incapacity which that minister had 
loyally attracted to himself. Charles found Parliament 
intractable and made a record by ruling eleven years, 
1 629- 1 640, without one. Went worth, soon Earl of 
Strafford, was royal manager of state. Archbishop Laud 
of Church. For a time matters went well. Numerous 
illegalities ''" provided revenue. Episcopacy was forced 
upon Scotland. Then two significant events occurred: 
John Hampden went to law about ship money and re- 
bellion broke out in Scotland. '^ His hand forced by 
necessity, Charles summoned Parliament. Demand 
for money was met by demand for reform. Not re- 
form, but money, was what the king wanted ; so Parlia- 
ment was dismissed. This was in April, 1640. In 
November Parliament '' was in session again, Charles 



312 ENGLAND vSINCR THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 

in straits by the Scottish revoU. No time was lost be- 
fore beginning the serious business of reforming the 
government.'^ Strafford went first. Four 3^ears later 
Laud was to go, five years later still the king himself. 

^ Only direct representative of Henry VII. Descent was 
through Margaret, Henry's eldest daughter, whose son was 
James V of Scotland, father of ill-starred Mary Queen of Scots, 
mother of James VI. 

'^ Who trusted to his mother's faith. 

^ A king reared on Presbyterianism would be likely to think 
well of Puritanism. Puritans had not then heard the king's 
words, "A Scottish presbytery agreeth as well with a monarchy 
as God with the devil." " No bishop, no king." 

* In the famous Bate case, 1606, in which king levied dues, 
Bxchequer decided that king was within right, and needed not 
authority of Parliament. Coke stood for judicial independence 
and was deposed, 1616 ; judges henceforth mere heralds of royal 
will. 

* His theory was that "the All-powerful had placed kings 
above law ; that consequently a prince can make statutes and 
punish without the intervention of a Parliament, and that he is 
not bound to strict observance of the laws of the state." "I 
will govern according to the common weal, but not according 
to the common weal," he declared, dissolving Parliament ; 
himself, of course, to be judge of the common weal. 

* Attracted by dowry and by hope of increased influence in 
continental politics, he sought Spanish princess for Prince 
Charles. Such conditions were imposed that father and son 
withdrew from project discomfited. 

^ James wanted to win peace for Europe by diplomacy when 
everybody else was fighting for it. His reward was contempt 
of all parties. 

^Elector Frederick V of the Palatinate. 

^ Favoritism, waste of revenue, revival of absolute feudal priv- 
ileges, subversion of courts, illegal imposts, insane emphasis of 
divine right. 

^"Most monopolies had been abolished early in reign, only 
later to creep back in ever larger number. James, seeing strength 
of storm, canceled them without waiting to have them outlawed. 



KNGlvAND SINCK THIRTEEN HUNDRRD. 313 

"Parliament did not mince matters, beginning with Lord 
Chancellor Bacon. 

^2 Though James with his own hand tore from Journal the page 
recording protest against interference, the protest marked gain 
never afterward lost. 

^3 Buckingham quarreled with Richelieu, who ordered him out 
of the kingdom. Important incident in quarrel of ministers 
was siege of La Rochelle. 

^* Assassinated on point of sailing against Rochelle. 

^''Star Chamber, High Commission Court, and Council of York 
gave all needed machinery. Various taxes were levied, most 
notable in result ship money, courts still finding for the crown. 

^^Nineteen-twentieths of the nation signed a national cove- 
nant, pledging defiance of Catholicism and defence of Scotland's 
laws, freedom, and king, the last a strange oath, seeing that it 
was from the king that they feared all. 

'^The Long Parliament," 1640-1659. 

^« Already line of cleavage between Cavalier and Roundliead 
could be traced, though as yet the struggle is between -Parlia- 
ment as a whole and king. In just a year lines will be redrawn. 



SEC. II. CHECK. 

Such parliamentary temper is not good for royalty. 
The situation was not improved by fresh evidence of 
Charles' faithlessness.' Outbreak in Ireland forced 
matters to issue.' The Grand Remonstrance^ was car- 
ried through Parliament. Seeing now whither they 
were hastening, parties crystallized for and against the 
king. In general, nobility, gentry, and clergy, the 
universities, supporters of episcopacy, and Catholics 
were with the king ; towns, small freeholders, and non- 
conformists with Parliament, which henceforth is con- 
stituted by the House of Commons. At first the war 
dragged.* In 1643 Parliament joined the Scotch in the 
Solemn League and Covenant,^ in spite of large and 
growing influence of Independents.*' Charles intrigued 

43 



314 ENGLAND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 

with all parties/ and, true to record, did his best to de- 
ceive all. Then, seeing safety only in drastic measures, 
Cromwell turned upon the Scotch, brought them to 
terms, ^destroyed the remnants of royal resistance, fitted 
Parliament to will of army,'' and brought Charles to the 
scaffold. The only efficient power left was Cromwell's 
army and Cromwell. Under title of Protector, Crom- 
well ruled England for nine years as England has 
seldom been ruled. Ironsides taught Europe the art 
of war anew. The navy under Blake swept the seas. 
Englishmen were proud again for the first time since 
the days of Elizabeth. At home, government with 
strong hand repaired the ruin of civil war. But two 
things numbered the days of the Commonwealth : 
Cromwell was politically in advance of his age,'*' and 
long before his work was done death claimed him. His 
son ^' was no match for the times, and after five months 
gladly laid aside the staff of office. The army still 
ruled England, and declared for royalty. This was 
what the nation longed for, and the dead Charles' son 
was welcomed to England and the throne. 

^ Suspicion was already keen. It was beHeved that, so far 
from visiting Scotland to enforce acts abolishing episcopac}', 
the king really went to get an anny to coerce Parliament. 
There was evidence that he negotiated with Irish Catholic 
lords, who wanted to rule Ireland and who in return for this 
would furnish an army for England. What is certain is that 
he invaded the House of Commons to arrest offending mem- 
bers. 

2 While Charles was in Scotland the Irish lords rose on their 
own account. The rebellion must be put down. Could the 
king be trusted with an army ? Parliament doubted it. 

•^A statement of Parliament's case, indicting the king of un- 
limited list of errors and wrongs. There was now a party for 
the king and one against. The Grand Remonstrance passed 
Commons by narrow majority of eleven. 



ENGLAND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 315 

* 1642 saw Charles set up the roj^al staudard at Nottingham, 
August 22. Edgehill followed, October 23, au indecisive strug- 
gle. At Turnham Green, November 13, the Loudon train bands 
barred Charles' march to the capital, which he was fated to 
enter again only as a prisoner. 

^Binding English to reform Church of England in line of 
Presbyterianism, though a measure of liberty was provided for 
by addition, on England's part, of words, " and according to the 
word of God." Money was furnished Scotland, and Scotland 
undertook to furnish an army. 

* Separatists, now grown numerous, called Independents from 
insistence that every congregation is an independent ecclesi- 
astical authority for its own affairs. 

'Glamorgan treated with Irish in name of king. Charles 
threw himself upon Scotch, who were anxious to support him, 
stipulating only the establishment of Presbyterianism. Par- 
liamentary Presbyterians were open to proposals of Scottish 
brethren. Only the Independents and the army were consist- 
ently hostile to king. Charles' state of mind may best be gath- 
ered from his own words to the queen : "All my endeavors must 
be the delaying of my answer till there be considerable parties 
visibly formed." 

^After routing Scotch army at Preston, Cromwell pressed on 
to Edinburgh and established a government pledged against 
the king. 

3 Parliamentary majority were Presbyterians, who spoke ill of 
Cromwell, the army, and Independents. Pride's Purge settled 
all murmurs. Colonel Pride, December 6, 1648, surrounding 
House with troopers, prevented Presbyterian members from 
entering. This reduced attendance that day from 250 to 50. 
The latter, all Independents, formally indorsed Cromwell. 

^"Cromwell's idea was worked out by Ireton in "The Heads 
of the Proposals," a constitutional scheme providing for bien- 
nial Parliaments, special regulation of official appointments, 
and complete toleration except to Catholics. The constitution 
of the Protectorate, "The Instrument of Government," would 
make a firs^-rate working scheme for a modern republic. 

^^ Richard Cromwell, nominated as successor by father on 
death-bed, a quiet, unwarlike man, more welcome to nation, 
less welcome to arni}^, because no fighter. 



3l6 ENGLAND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 



SEC. 12. RESTORATION. 

Charles II, 1660-1685. The restoration of the Stuart 
line meant resumption of the Stuart programme. One 
thing, and one only, Charles II had learned during his 
exile — the inconvenience of being a king without a 
crown, a ruler without a domain. This was worth 
much to England, for unwillingness to be again sent 
on his travels impelled Charles to stop short of break- 
ing with the nation as both father and grandfather had 
done. Meanwhile England had gone mad with joy at 
recovery of a king. Moderation would have- been an 
advantage, as it might have saved the nation the em- 
barrassment of coming to itself only to find a coil of 
broken promises about its neck. Charles II had op- 
portunity to be one of England's really national leaders. 
Being a Stuart, hecoidd not use his opportunity. The 
one word to describe his reign is reaction : from severity 
to shamelessness in morals ; from toleration enforced 
by the sword to conformity under stringent laws against 
dissent ; ' from revolt against tyranny to non-resistance ; 
from attempted independence to attempted absolutism. 
The disgraceful Treaty of Dover, "^ 1670, sums up the 
new king's foreign policy. Corporation Act,^ Conven- 
ticle Act,* Five-mile Act,^ and the roar of Dutch guns 
in the ear of London ^ reveal the character of adminis- 
tration at home. Royalty was costing dear, for with 
all his father's duplicity Charles II was sensual and 
extravagant. The future grew dark once more. The 
king was suspected of Catholic leanings. His brother 
and heir was an avowed Catholic. Wise men foresaw 
trouble. 

James II, 1685-1688. And it came. The old arbi- 
trariness, the old disregard of law,^ in face of an 



ENGLAND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 317 

awakened national spirit, worked their own remedy. 
If the king would not rule by the constitution he should 
not rule at all. Hope of transmission of crown to Mary 
of Orange ^ on James' death destroyed by unlooked for 
birth of son^ to king, leading Englishmen joined in 
petition to Mary's husband to come to their relief. 
James finally conceded every point, but it was too late. 
England had declared the divine right of kings uncon- 
stitutional. 

^ Presbyterianism was disowned as beiug no religion for a gen- 
tleman. An act of nuiformity required Episcopal ordination 
and use of Book of Common Prayer. The Covenant was pub- 
licly burned by hangman. Dissent was severely punished. 

■^ Even while talking loudly against Louis XIV, Charles whs 
secretly in his pay to the extent of a million dollars a j^ear. The 
terms of Dover were: i. Open profession of Catholicism by 
Charles. 2. Active alliance with France against Dutch Republic. 
3. Support of France in claims upon Spain. 4. Plenty of money 
from Louis and an army to crush any attempted English revolt. 

^Compelling magistrates and corporation officers to take oath 
that resistance to king is unlawful under any circumstances. 

*i664. Making crime of attendance upon a conventicle or 
meeting not in harmony with Church of England punishable in 
ascending scale, ending in seven years' transportation. 

^ 1665. Forbade dissenting minister to come within five miles 
of a borough, town, or of any place where he would be likely 
to get a hearing, unless he took oath of non-resistance, and in 
addition swore never to undertake to alter government either in 
church or in state. 

^ Charles had no heart to spend on the navy money that would 
give pleasure to his mistresses. The result whs leaky, under- 
manned, ill-stored ships against Holland's splendid navy. Even 
these hulks were put out of commission before all issues were 
determined looking to a peace Charles regarded as already as- 
sured. The Dutch admiral swept up the Thames, filling London 
with shame and terror, a city which had never before, has never 
since, heard the sound of foreign cannon. 

^ In defiance of Test Act gave commissions to Catholics, used 
pardoning power to free Catholics from disabilities, whipped in 



3l8 ENGLAND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 

the universities, and in 1687 by his own authority published 
Declaration of Indulgence. The measure was on the face of it 
good, but two facts must be carried with it : i. Protestant dis- 
senters squarely refused it, though it seemed to favor them. 
2. Englishmen in general believed that its liberality was only 
a blind, that when freedom of worship had been secured Catho- 
lics, among others, it would at once be withdrawn from all others. 

^ Daughter of James, but confirmed Protestant. 

^Universally believed at the time to be a warming-pan off- 
spring smuggled into queen's bed. The child become a man 
vindicated his parents by showing the Stuart temper so com- 
pletely as to prove himself his father's son. 



SEC. 13. THE DIVINE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE. 

The Revolution of 1688 was more than the passing 
of a scepter from one hand to another. It marked the 
end of the old political order, the beginning .of a new. 
I. No claim of divine right will hold, against the un- 
concealed and uncontested act of Parliament determin- 
ing the succession in the name of the people. 2. No 
absolutist assumption can bar the will of the people ex- 
pressed by Parliament. 3. The ministers of govern- 
ment are responsible henceforth, not to crown, but to 
nation. 4. Prerogative gives place to law. 5. The 
conditions of party government are established. 6. 
Something like intellectual and spiritual liberty is as- 
sured. The charters guaranteeing these goods and 
much beside are the Declaration of Right, ^ the Act of 
Settlement,' and the Act of Toleration,^ notably the 
first. 

So England faced the future. Strong affection for 
the queen, Mary II, 1688- 1694, and great need of the 
king, William III, 1 688-1 702, kept the nation fairly 
united while the new order was getting itself settled. 
The most prominent interest of the double reign was 



E^NGLAND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. ^IQ 

not English, but Continental. Additional weight in 
struggle witli Louis XIV * was one great element in 
William's acceptance of the English crown. Year 
after year his indomitable will kept him in the field, 
until the Treaty of Ryswick brought honorable peace. 
But incidental good from the struggle was confirmation 
of rights of Parliament by use, the king, busied abroad, 
willingl}^ leaving to it domestic concerns in return for 
subsidies enabling him to humble France. Both in 
public and in private life Anne, ^ 1702-17 14, served her 
country well. As she herself said, her heart was en- 
tirely English. Though not brilliant, she was sensible, 
devout, loyal, and well understood the spirit of her 
people. Her reign was trebl}^ memorable for the Scot- 
tish Union,*' a hterary outburst^ w^hich couples her age 
with that of Elizabeth, and for the marvelous victories 
of Marlborough " in the European struggle. 

^ Condemned illegaHties of James II and conferred crown upon 
WiUiam III and Mary II, administration to rest with king. 
Succession was fixed through Mary, then through Anne, then 
through Wilham. 

^ Fixed succession after Anne in House of Hanover. Further 
important provisions were : i. Sovereign must be communicant 
of Church of Kngland. 2. Foreigners were exchided from 
Privy Council and Parhament. 3. Pohcy of foreign possessions 
of sovereign might involve England only at England's will. 
4. Judges were fixed in tenure of life or good, conduct. 5. By 
no formal enactment, but more than by any or all enactments, 
the supremacy of Parliament was reasserted, the sovereign 
henceforth primarily only the first official of the state. 

^Practically assuring religious liberty to all except " Papists 
and such as deny the Trinity." 

*The struggle as much religious as political. Louis was 
Christendom's leading Catholic king. William was ablest Prot- 
estant leader. 

^ Her own life was blameless, her court was pure, and while 
no genius, she had the wisdom to support able ministers and 
generals. 



326 ENGLAND SINCE THIRTEE^N HUNDitEt). 

^ Since the earliest Border wars men had seen the compacting 
of the island into one kingdom as a thing desirable and ulti- 
mately inevitable. Personal union came in 1603 by James I. 
Political union was accomplished in 1707, on following terms : 

1. House of Hanover to succeed to throne of United Kingdom. 

2. Scotland to have 16 Peers and 45 Commoners. 3. British 
ports and colonies to be open to Scottish traders. 4. Public 
policy to be the same for England and Scotland, but property 
and private rights to be administered with reference to Scottish 
tradition. 5. Scottish courts to remain unchanged. 6, Church 
of Scotland to be maintained. 

'Prior, Addison, Pope, Steele, Swift, Cibber, Congreve, Defoe. 

8 Notably Blenheim, 1704; Ramilies, 1706; Oudenarde, 1708 ; 
Malplaquet, 1709. Of Marlborough it was said that "he never 
besieged a town which he did not take, nor fought a battle in 
which he did not conquer." He was worthily seconded by 
Prince Eugene of Savoy. 



SEC. 14. THE HANOVERIAN KINGS. 

Again, at the death of Anne, England sent abroad 
for a king. The Guelph Line or House of Brunswick 
joint with the Stuarts in the person of Electress EHz- 
abeth Palatine, daughter of James I. Grandson ^ to 
Elizabeth was George of Hanover, now an electorate.^ 
This Elector of Hanover became King of England as 
George I. On his death, his son succeeded as George 
II. The reigns belong together in spirit, in character 
of kings, and in fact of subordination of English to 
Hanoverian interests, so far as royal . influence could 
determine. English speech and English character the 
first George never fairly learned, while the second lived 
and died less English than German.^ Chief events of 
the two reigns follow. 

George I, 171 4- 1727, had reached ripe age of fifty - 
four when he became king. The first years were filled 



ENGLAND SINCIC THIRTEEJN HUNDRED. 32 1 

with nightmare. James' son had a following in Eng- 
land, numerous and strong. France had promised him 
strong support. Scotland blazed up in rebellion. But 
I^ouis XIV died. The Scotch were defeated. The Pre- 
tender appeared in the North, but stayed only long 
enough to prove himself a Stuart. "The Fifteen" 
was over. The following 5^ears saw a Septennial Act * 
substituted for the Triennial,^ the dissolution of Con- 
vocation,' the bursting of the South Sea Bubble,' and 
the rise of Walpole. 

George II, 1 727-1 760, was forty-four on his accession. 
Walpole continued the real ruler of England. His 
policy was peace at home and abroad, maintained when 
necessary by silence under insult and by unlimited 
bribery. War with Spain in 1739 resulted ill, justify- 
ing Walpole' s dire prophecies.^ Opposition, already 
strong, was increased by quickening of moral sense of 
nation under preaching of Methodism, and English- 
men, ashamed of long subserviency, drove the great 
Minister from office. The Continental war, 1 741-1745, 
over accession of Maria Theresa, was memorable for 
good English service.^ * ' The Forty-five' ' was Stuarts' 
last effort to regain crown.'" The Seven Years' War, 
1 756- 1 763, from a Continental became a Colonial con- 
flict between France and England, Clive's victory for 
latter at Plassey '^ and Wolfe's at Quebec '' laying foun- 
dation of British Empire in India and America. The 
strong man at home was William Pitt, the Great Com- 
moner. 

^ Through Sophia, who married Elector of Hanover. 

^ Since 1692. 

^ Heavy, cautious, reserved, both father and son, industrious, 
punctual, niggardly toward England, prodigal toward Hanover, 
The elder was a domestic tyrant, keeping his cousin wife a 
44 



322 ENGI.AND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 

prisoner in Hanover for more than 30 years. The younger had 
sense enough to prize his wife Caroline of Anspach, a woman of 
virtue and discretion, even though he preferred mistresses for 
steady company. Science, literature, art hoped little, gained 
less, from the first two Georges, the latter of whom was more 
than once heard to growl that he saw no use in " bainting and 
t)oetry." 

* Fixing maximum length of Parliament at seven years. 

^Passed in 1694, limiting life of Parliament to three years. 
This called for unduly frequent election, keeping the country 
in political turmoil. 

^ The clergy early ceased to form an estate of the realm in a 
legislative sense. Until 1664, however, they levied royal aids 
upon themselves under the name of benevolences. In the year 
named, without express law, they were merged into the body 
of the nation, so far as taxation was concerned. They, how- 
ever, still had large influence as an ecclesiastical organization, 
notwithstanding the radical religious changes that had come 
over the kingdom. Convocation continued to meet until 1717, 
discussing many subjects only indirectly ecclesiastical. The 
tendency to this grew and resulted in prorogation by the king's 
ministers. Though regularly summoned, it was as regularly 
prorogued without doing anything, and not until our own fifties 
was it allowed to consider even church business. 

^A national craze in 1720 over an impossible monopoly of 
South Sea trade, in return for which the South Sea Company 
was to pay the national debt, besides a bonus at once of nearly 
forty million dollars. It was Law's French bubble over again, 
with a gullible English in place of a gullible French constitu- 
ency. Of course, the scheme failed, carrying ruin everywhere. 

^ It is interesting to note that the war was caused by Spanish 
claim of right to search British vessels suspected of smuggling 
on coasts of Spanish America. Joy bells rang when war was 
declared, for the war was popular. " They may ring their bells 
now," nmttered Walpole ; "they will be wringing their hands 
before long." The war was ill-managed and Walpole's words 
came true. 

"Especially emphasized by fact that at Dettingen, I743, the 
king led the troops to victory in person, the last time a British 
sovereign has been under fire of an enemy. 



ENGLAND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 323 

^°The " Fifteen " was in the interest of James' son, the Pre- 
tender. The "Forty-five" was led by " Bonnie Prince Charlie," 
son of the Pretender. At Rome is monument bearing empty titles 
of three English kings unrecognized b3' England — James III 
(Pretender), Charles III (Bonnie Prince Charlie), and Henry IX 
(Cardinal of York, younger son of Pretender). 

^^ 1757. Avenged the Black Hole of Calcutta and gave Bengal 
to England. 

^2 1 759. Completing conquest of Canada by impossible achieve- 
ment of scaling cliffs to which Montcalm trusted for half the de- 
fense of Quebec. 



SEC. 15. GEORGE THE THIRD. 

George III, 1 760-1 820, ascended a glorious throne. 
Pitt and his coworkers by land and sea had led England 
to first place in world's politics. The new king came 
to the throne an Englishman. George I, heart and 
tongue German, knew little, perhaps cared less, about 
England, whose direction lie left to his ministers, seldom 
even attending their meetings. George II followed his 
father's example, main interest still outside kingdom. 
George III, born and bred to English ways, schooled 
incessantly to thought of king as ruler, ^ loving England 
as predecessors had not, set out to make royal will chief 
factor in government. Setting little store by parties 
and recognizing responsibility of ministers only to him- 
self, he appealed to popular sentiment for overthrow of 
Whigs. The Whigs went out. Then George found 
that while the nation was ready to support the king 
against faction it would not support him against itself. 
The struggle was long and at times bitter, ending in 
further establishment of popular rights. Royalty strove 
earnestly, but its theory was out of date. The events 
through which the issue was determined were among 
the most thrilling in history, i. The secret agreement 



324 ENGLAND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 

of 1733 between France and Spain against England, 
renewed in Family Compact, though unforced by British 
initiative, to unbearable disgust of Pitt,'^ was quickly 
broken by British guns'* when once the compacting 
nations declared war. Treaty of Paris, 1763, brought 
peace. 2. Then the train was laid * for trouble with the 
American Colonies. Lord North, prime minister and 
page of royalty, was kept in office to coerce America. 
Judicial coercion gave way to military force. Lexing- 
ton, Bunker Hill, Valley Forge, Saratoga, Yorktown 
were sinister comment on ro3^al obstinacy. At last 
even the royal mind opened to the logic of facts, and 
the American Republic was recognized. 3. Meanwhile 
Cook was winning an Australasian empire for the 
Mother Country, Hastings, Cornwallis, Wellesley, and 
their collaborateurs were completing the Indian, thus 
balancing American loss. 4. Severest strain of all came 
in French Revolution. Throwing prudence to the 
winds, the new Republic challenged the world. Revo- 
lutionar}^ and Napoleonic wars are almost as much a 
part of English as of French history. British gold, 
British blood, British generalship, British diplomacy 
headed every opposition to French ambition, winning 
ultimate deliverance for Europe and imperishable fame 
for the Island Kingdom. 5. Consolidation of that king- 
dom was furthered by the Irish Union, ^ completing 
political organization of British Isles, The enormous 
drain of the French wars was met by enormous indus- 
trial development, and despite increase of national debt^ 
the reign closed in peace and prosperity. A shadow 
that had long rested on the royal household settled into 
complete darkness in 18 10, in blindness and insanity of 
king. From the beginning of the following year the 
Prince of Wales administered the government as Regent. 



KNGI.AND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 325 

^ " George, be a king ! be a king ! " was his mother's daily ad- 
monition. His tutor, Bate, was of the same mind. So was the 
royal pupil, so far as he had a mind. 

2 Pitt urged to strike before the blow of the enemy fell. Over- 
ruled on score of an empty treasury, he resigned. 

^ Spain lost Havana and Manila ; both, however, unfortunately 
returned later, to be a field of Spanish tyrann\' until Dewey and 
others did the work over again in 1898, France was stripped 
of her finest holdings in the West Indies. Both Spain and 
France soon asked for peace, 

*0n ground that colonial war was waged in colonial interest, 
government argued that colonial settlement of bills was only 
fair. Colonial answer was, No. The war was England's war, 
and England must pay for her own enterprises. Only in pro- 
portion to colonial rights could colonial obligations be recog- 
nized. No taxation without representation. Then the quarrel 
grew in extent and bitterness, subjects of dispute proving larger 
than was supposed. 

^ i8or. Recent rebellion made union a political necessity. 
Main provisions follow: i. Ireland was to have 32 Peers and 
100 Commoners. 2. Full trading privileges. 3. EquitaV)le pro- 
portional taxation. Pitt wanted complete freedom for religion 
as well as for trade, involving Catholic ^uancipation, but both 
the king and the English people were opposed to this, needing 
still a third of a century of preparation, 

^Footing up enormous total of four and a half billion dollars. 



SEC. 16. NEEDED REFORMS. 

The reigns of George IV, 1 820-1 830, and William 
IV, 1 830-1 837, were short and uneventful so far as 
foreign affairs were concerned. Extension of Indian 
possessions^ and establishment of Greek independence^ 
occasioned the only warlike movements of King George; 
enlistment rights to Spanish government disturbed by 
Carlists and blockade of Dutch ports in Belgian inter- 
est,' the only ones of King William, At home three 
measures made the period memorable, i. The Eman- 



326 ENGLAND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 

cipation Bill of 1829 released Catholics from legal dis- 
abilities, securing them full rights of British subjects.* 
2. The Reform Bill of 1832 swept away worst corrup- 
tions of pocket borough^ politics, recognized municipal 
development,^ and extended the suffrage." 3. The Ab- 
olition Act^ of 1833 crowned lifelong effort of Wilber- 
force, Sharp, Clarkson, and Buxton, backed by moral 
sense of England, putting end to slavery throughout 
British dominions. 

^ Through first Burmese war, caused by outrages upon British 
colonies beyond Ganges. 

^Against grinding Turkish rule, which for more than three 
centuries had kept them bond slaves. Russia, France, and 
England engaged to force from Turkey acknowledgment of 
Greek independence. The matter was settled in battle of Nava- 
rino, where Turkish fleet was destroyed. Greece got for king 
Bavarian Otho and started on the checkered way of her modern 
history. 

^Congress of Vienna tied up Holland and Belgium in a union 
which in the nature of things could not endure. In 1830 Bel- 
gium carried through successful revolt, forming independent 
kingdom. 

* Thanks to eloquence of Daniel O'Connell and to growing En. 
glish enlightenment. Already in 1828 the Test and Corporation 
Acts of Charles II had been repealed. 

^Some of which had no voters, though they cast votes in 
Parliament. Old Sarum, ruined by prosperity of New Sarum 
or Salisbury, was a green mound without a single dwelling. 
Gatton was a ruined wall. Fifty -six rotten boroughs were dis- 
franchised outright, while thirty others had their representation 
reduced. One hundred forty-three memberships were thus 
available for redistribution. They were assigned to the more 
populous counties and thirty-nine cities and towns hitherto un- 
represented. 

^ Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester fairly represented 
many communities which had risen to importance without Par- 
liamentary representation, as that had been fixed when they 
were not entitled to it, and left since unchanged. 



ENGLA.ND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 327 

^ In towns, to owners or tenants of houses worth at least ten 
pounds a year. In the country, to owmers of land worth ten 
pounds a year or renters paying at least fifty pounds a year. 
This extension of the suffrage to the middle class met astound- 
ingly vigorous opposition in House of Lords. Indeed, only fear 
of being swamped by new liberal Peers brought Lords to terms 
at last. 

^ After forty-six years of agitation. Slaveholders received one 
hundred million dollars as compensation for their propert}' and 
five years' apprentice service from their slaves, the time being 
shortened two years from the seven originall}' determined. In 
1838 800,000 slaves went free. 



SEC. 17. VICTORIA REGINA. 

Since the opening of the century England succes- 
sively had obeyed three kings — the first imbecile, the 
second corrupt, the third old. It was springtime in 
the nation's heart when a young and beautiful queen 
was welcomed to the throne. With a vsingle sad ex- 
ception, w^oman's rule has been a time of national en- 
thusiasm in England. More than once the men of 
Victoria's reign have been reminded of this, by achieve- 
ment matching the great days of Anne and the greater 
days of Elizabeth. English annals show few reigns 
comparable with these three. 

Canadian rebellion^ and Chartist'^ agitation disturbed 
Victoria's first years. An Afghan war/^ interference in 
Pachalic revolt * against Turkey, and chastisement of 
China ^ filled the years from 1839 to 1842. Disruption " 
in Scotland and the Oxford movement marked 1843. 
The Punjaub was conquered in 1845. Repeal of Corn 
Eaws" made 1846 memorable. The first World's Fair 
was held in 1851. Trouble with Kaffirs at the Cape 
and a second Burmese war occurred in 1852. The 
Crimean War^ followed in 1854. In 1856 fresh gain 



328 KNGI.AND vSlNCK I'HIRl'EKN HUNDRED. 

was made in China. 1857 was made a 5^ear of horror 
by the Indian Mutiny.^ SUghtly uneven neutrality was 
observed during the Civil War in America/" In 1869 
the Irish Church was disestablished." In 1870 the 
Irish Land Act''* was passed. The middle seventies 
were enlivened by blustering ^^ in connection with the 
Russo-Turkish War. The Reform Biir' of 1884 still 
further extended the suffrage. 1885 was memorable 
for Gordon and Khartoum. ^^ The later eighties were 
filled with imperialistic agitation ^^ looking to closer 
union of different parts of Empire, agitation whose 
form has changed during the last decade, but which 
has continued with promising results. Threatened 
wars have been numerous of late.^^ but not since the 
days of the Crimea has England actually fought a civil- 
ized people until this closing year of the century, when 
long standing disputes with the Orange Free State and 
the Transvaal are getting settled by the Bismarckian 
formula of blood and iron. 

^ Protest against political jobbery, indifference of home gov- 
ernment to colonial grievances, and inevitable outcome of racial 
friction. Soon quelled and two provinces united. 

■■^So called from the People's Charter, a campaign document 
demanding constitutional change in direction of popular gov- 
ernment. 

' Writing a story of brilliant military achievement, treachery, 
revenge, and final gain. Dost Mohammed was a usurper. To 
replace ousted chief, English army fought its way to Cabul. 
Dost Mohammed's son invited English officers to conference 
and murdered them. The army on its backward march was 
wiped out. A new English force reconquered the capital and 
then withdrew. Dost Mohammed got the throne at last, but 
proved unexpectedly well disposed to British, so all ended well. 

* Mehemet Ali, of Egypt. 

^ Dispute over smuggled opium grew into unwarranted im- 
prisonment of British subjects, when English action became 
inevitable. 



ENGLAND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 329 

^ Overturn of ecclesiastical decisions by the civil courts caused 
a large section to withdraw from the state church and form the 
Free church. More than 30 per cent, of the population is affil- 
iated with the Free church, which has grown to half the list of 
communicants reported by the state church, 

^ Duty on foreign breadstuff was long kept ruinously high 
from mistaken regard for local agricultural interests. The 
repeal did more than correct excessive dues on corn. It led 
England out into free trade. 

^Russian interference with Turkey awakened protest from 
France and England. Through a good part of the war Eng- 
land got the lion's share of work, France the lion's share of 
glory. The Treaty of Paris closed the war in 1856, Russia 
promising to keep no fleet in the Black Sea and to leave Sebas- 
topol dismantled. It is needless to add that both promises 
have been broken. 

^Fought down, as only Englishmen can fight down disaster, 
adding the names of Lawrence and Havelock and Campbell to 
the roll of England's heroes. The result was firmer British hold 
on India. Government was transferred from the East India 
Company to the crown. 

^•'Witness early recognition of Southern Confederacy, the 
Trent affair, and the career of the Alabama. It is hardly doubt- 
ful that Euglishmen in general would have welcomed the disso- 
lution of the Union. 

^^ Simple justice to Ireland, since the established and endowed 
Protestant church had always been the church of the minority. 

^•^ Compelled landlord to compensate tenant for improvements 
made by latter, and limited right of eviction to violation of con- 
tract. Government aid also was offered tenants wishing to buy 
land. Unfortunately the act proved less beneficent than was 
hoped, because of unlooked-for composition between landlord 
and tenant. 

^^ Beaconsfield insisted that agreements of Russia and Turkey 
must be revised by concert of powers. Great show of spirit was 
rewarded by reduction of Russia's profit from victory, and con- 
siderable redistribution of the semi-independent principalities 
of northern Turkey. 

^* Making conditions of suffrage identical in country and 
borough — i. e., every adult male owning or renting a house of 

45 



330 ENGLAND SINCE THIRTKKN HUNDRED. 

ten pounds yearly value is a voter. Further, counties and 
boroughs are divided into election districts, each entitled to one 
member. 

^^ Part of the Egyptian problem. Gordon went down alone to 
make peace among howling desert fanatics. Too late his coun- 
trymen organized for his rescue. Meanwhile the Mahdi storm 
had been too great for Gordon. The city had fallen when help 
arrived, and Gordon with it. The real rescue of Gordon was 
accomplished in 1899 by Kitchener. 

^^I^ookiug even as far ultimately as to include representation 
in the imperial Parliament. 

^^ Extreme German tension, Venezuelan Boundary Dispute, 
Fisheries and other Canadian complications touching the United 
States, the Fashoda incident, minor brushes with African tribes, 
the eternal Eastern question with Russia, whether in Turkey, 
Persia, Afghanistan, or China. 



SEC. 18. THE MAKING OF THE NATION. 

Valuable instruction is offered b}^ review of the pro- 
cess by which was shaped the heart of ' ' the greatest 
empire that has been." Geographically, we see the 
Heptarchy reduced to triarchy and then to tmity,^ the 
best prevailing by war's unflinching test. Then, after 
four and a half centuries, Wales added, "^ rounds out 
Angle Land. Four centuries later Scotland^ joins, 
making Great Britain. Still a century, and Ireland 
from a conquered province becomes constituent ^ of the 
United Kingdom. Ethnic composition matches terri- 
torial. Celt, Pict, Scot, Dane, Angle, Saxon, amalga- 
mated, waited only a Norman strain to make the com- 
posite Englishman. Composite Scotchman, composite 
Irishman, and composite Englishman fuse to form the 
Britisher.' Boast of tmmixed blood there can hardly 
be in face of this. But unmixed blood has always 
been outclassed. Far better politically is a happy 



ENGLAND SINCK THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 331 

mingling of different strains, producing a type superior 
to any original. It is England's lot to rejoice in the 
best type the world has seen— possibly save one. 

1 Kent, East Saxony, South Saxony, Wessex, Northumbria, 
East Anglia, Mercia ; reduced to Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex ' 
Wessex winning in the end. The process of reduction filled 
417 years, from 410 to 827. 

' 1282, under Edward I, whose infant son born at Caernarvon 
was first "Prince of Wales." 

^ 1707, under Queen Anne. 

*i8oi, under George III. 

SEC. 19. GREATER BRITAIN. 

Nine-tenths of the population of Great Britain is 
found outside of the United Kingdom, and ninetynine- 
hundredths of its territory. An entire side of English 
history since the beginning of Tudor days ' is made up 
of discovery, colonization, development of new lands. 
England's colonial policy has been remarkable for sev- 
eral reasons: i. It has spread a net of English in- 
fluence over the globe. No habitable foot of the earth 
is far distant from the Union Jack. 2. It regards the 
colony as a field, not for exploitation, but for cultivation.' 
3. It encourages local independence.' 4. It has every- 
where meant better rule.* 5. Most remarkable of all, with 
few noteworthy exceptions,' it is indorsed by the gov- 
erned. The outburst of colonial loyalty at the Queen's 
Jubilee in 1897, proved by recent events in South Africa 
to be no mere matter of words, tells more clearly than 
written volumes why England stands in the forefront 
of the nations. 

^ Henry VII sent out Sebastian Cabot, who touched at Lab- 
rador, 1497, and sailed down the eastern coast of North America 
as far as Florida. English seamen sent by English sovereigns 
completed the programme. 



332 ENGLAND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 

^The primary thought being commerce. Development of 
colonial life means an ever-enlarging market. The policy of re- 
striction, pursued with such disastrous effects toward the Ameri- 
can colonies, has long since been abandoned. Not to strip colo- 
nial country bare and not to hinder colonial enterprise, but, on 
the contrary, to stimulate colonial civilization and thereby mul- 
tiply wants is the course that pays in the long run. But we 
greatly mistake when we see in the Englishman a mere gold- 
hunter or land-grabber or shopkeeper. The colonizing, civiliz- 
ing, christianizing instinct is in his blood, and there is more 
than a jest in the English statesman's complacent remark that 
it is wonderful how the Ten Commandments and British inter- 
ests go together. 

^ Note the Dominion of Canada and the Australian Common- 
wealths. 

* Note India, where improved conditions have made multiplied 
life possible to such an extent that one great task of the govern- 
ment is to look after those who under old conditions would have 
perished at birth. Pro-Boer sentiment is modified by deliberate 
judgment that, whatever the specific issues at bottom of present 
war, the world would suffer loss if British rule in South Africa 
were imperiled. 

^The woes of Ireland illustrate the exceptions. Pity that 
justice and sympathy and brotherly kindness on both sides St, 
George's Channel cannot find means for breaking down the wall 
of separation, built at such pains and such cost of racial, reli- 
gious, and political prejudice, which severs Ireland from the 
empire, in spite of Parliaments and laws and force ! Happily 
Ireland is but one and has no real counterpart. 



SEC. 20. THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 

The United Kingdom and Greater Britain together 
constitute a world empire. The sun never sets on 
British dominion. The center of it is, of course, the 
British Isles. The final authority, whether for the 
making or the execution of law, is Parliament.^ Under 
Parliament, in varying degrees of independence, the 



ENGLAND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 333 

multitudinous constituents of the empire form a series 
running all the way from the crown colony '^ to federa- 
tions '^ recognizing only British suzerainty. Another 
such empire, so large, so scattered,* so free, history 
has not recorded. Its size is due to English love of 
adventure, English commercial instinct, English fight- 
ing weight, English grit. Its diffusion is due to En- 
glish appropriation of strategic corners wherever found, 
English pride in mastering tasks once undertaken, 
English genius for developing a situation. Its free- 
dom is fruit of Teutonic political genius, best seen in 
English spirit steadied by development of institutions 
for self-government, yet true to the fundamental Teu- 
tonic principle of personal rights. The precious thing 
is that in working out the problem of free government 
the Englishman has not wrought for himself alone. 
Whatever his blindness in earlier dealing with Ameri- 
can colonies, he has since been visited with great light. 
The last century has been England's best up to date. 
Her triumphs have been many. The greatest of all is 
written in the fact that in becoming an empire she has 
not become less free. By the Ganges, the Cape, the 
Nile, the St. Lawrence, the thousand islands of the 
sea, as by the Thames, British law means order, Brit- 
ish defense means safety, British organization means 
personal and political liberty. 

^Constituted of three elements of influence — Crown, Lords, 
and Commons. Succession to the crown is fixed by Act of Set- 
tlement. Royal assent is concluding act in enactment of law, 
though no veto has been attempted since Anne stopped a Scotch 
militia bill in 1707. The royal prerogative covers also making 
war and peace, pardon, summoning, proroguing, and dissolving 
Parliament, coinage, conferring nobility. The two houses make 
laws, vote supplies, furnish the administration — in theory advis- 



334 KNGLAND SINCE THIRTEEN HUNDRED. 

iug, in fact, controlling crown. The Lords are the court of 
final appeal. Legally they have equal share with Commons in 
legislation ; practically in case of difference the Upper House 
has to give way. Legally Commons has the one special power 
of originating money bills; practically they govern the kingdom. 
In most important sense Parliament is a popular legislature, 
chosen by an electorate which just stops short of manhood suf- 
frage. Final authority for the Bnipire therefore is the English 
voter. 

2 Like India, Gibraltar, Hongkong, St, Helena, controlled en- 
tirely by home government. 

^ Like the Dominion of Canada, itself a great state, under re- 
sponsible government, over which home government retains 
rights only so far as concerns appointment of governor-general, 
commander in chief of military forces, and general veto, saving 
always, as a matter of course, such functions of sovereignty as 
making war or treaty with a foreign power, 

*Here function of an unmatched navy conies clear. British 
geographical unity is secured by a cordon of battleships stretch- 
ing round the globe. Such an empire is possible only to the 
mistress of the sea. Utmost loyalty in colonies could not avail 
to hold the empire together twenty-four hours if once naval 
supremac}' were lost. It is a sound instinct that keeps track of 
operations in foreign ship-yards with a view to keeping always 
one ahead. The British army is important. The British navy 
is indispensable. 



CHAPTER XIV, 



The United States. 



SEC. I. POLITICAL CONTINUITY. 

When does American history begin ? Was its open- 
ing act the landing of Cohinibus, the coming of Cabot, 
the founding of Jamestown, the organization of Ply- 
mouth, the Boston tea party, Lexington, Bunker Hill, 
the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Paris, 
or the adoption of the Constitution ? Argument can be 
made for any and all of them. This indeterminateness 
suggests that the source lies deeper than any one act. 
We are the children of our fathers. While special im- 
portance attaches to attainment of legal majority, a 
biography which opened with coming of age would be 
counted singularly incomplete. Youth, childhood, par- 
entage, heredity — the springs of life lie in those earlier, 
precedent years. And historj^ is the biography of a 
nation. Political majority marks a vital point in na- 
tional development ; but, with a nation as with a man, 
behavior after coming of age is largely determined by 
elements fixed during minority, if not in the years 
before conscious life altogether. In an important sense 
the most vital chapter of American history was written 
before an American state had been dreamed of. Amer- 
ican literature, American law, American social tradi- 
tion root in English tradition.^ American political life 

46 (335) 



336 THE UNITED STATKvS. 

is English political life revised, enlarged, and improved. 
As Turgot prophesied, the fruit ripened and ceased 
to cling to the tree. None the less it was the fruit of 
the tree, which had brought forth after its kind. To 
understand our own political life, therefore, we must 
not be unmindful of our English origin."'' In its three 
homes the English people has beeri true to itself — brave, 
strong, vSelf-reliant, inventive — whether on the German 
Lowlands, the British Isles, or the great Continent of 
the West. Physical, social, spiritual kinship has bound 
the generations into historical unity. Politically the 
order of development runs straight from Teutonic free- 
manship through Magna Charta, Model Parliament, 
Petition of Right, Habeas Corpus, Declaration of Right, 
Act of Settlement, Declaration of Independence, to the 
Constitution.-'' 

^Speaking of English feeling of North American colonists, 
Johnston says: " This feeling was not an easy one to eradicate, 
for it was based on blood, training, and sj'nipathies of every na- 
ture. It would not have been easy to distinguish the American 
from the Knglishman. American portraits of the time show 
typical English faces. Wherever life was relieved of the priva- 
tions involved in colonial struggle, the person at once reverted 
to the type which was then the result of corresponding condi- 
tions in England. The traditions of American officers were 
English ; their methods were English; even the attitude they 
took toward the private soldiers of their armies was that which 
was characteristic of the English officer of the time. In the 
South the men who led and formed public opinion had almost 
all been trained in England and were ingrained with English 
sympathies and even prejudices. In the North the acute gen- 
eral intellect had long ago settled upon the ' common rights of 
Englishmen ' as the bulwark behind which they could best re- 
sist ati}^ attempt on their liberties." 

2 The greatest strain upon our political institutions has come 
from assumption that what is imderstood and appreciated by 



THK UNITED STATES. 337 

Americans themselves will be understood and appreciated by 
every one who comes to America. Those institutions are the 
product of political evolution. Six centuries of training made 
them possible. Anglo-Saxon qualities are presupposed by them : 
moderation, self-restraint, love of fair play. They take for 
granted intelligence, independence, and honest interest in good 
government. These qualities may or may not be possessed by 
a man who even without them may be able to handle a coal 
pick or roast peanuts. The possession of political qualities, 
however, might fairl}- be insisted upon as prerequisite to the 
possession of political rights. 

^ Especially valuable illustration of this thought constitutes 
the special excellence of such works as Stevens' Sources of the 
Constitution. "It is beginning to be realized that the Coiisti- 
tution of the United States, though possessing elements of 
novelty, is not after all the new creation that this idea (viz., 
that the Constitution is wholly new ; note especially the widely 
misunderstood remark of Gladstone) would imply. It is not, 
properly speaking, the original composition of one body of men, 
nor the outcome of one definite epoch ; it is more and better 
than that. It does not stand in historical isolation, free of 
antecedents. It rests upon very old principles, principles 
laboriously worked out by long ages of constitutional struggle. 
It looks back to the annals of the Colonies and of the mother- 
land for its sources and its explanation. And it was rendered 
possible and made what it is by the political development of 
many generations of men . ' ' 



SEC. 2. THE COI.ONIAL PERIOD. 

Basis of American state was line of settlements on 
Atlantic seaboard, thirteen in all, roughly classed as New 
England, Middle, and Southern groups. Great variety 
of organization and interest early developed. We note: 
I. Social and religious character of population. New 
England was dominated by Puritan stock; Middle group 
showed scarcely two origins alike, New York and New 
Jersey Dutch, Pennsylvania Quaker, Delaware Swedish, 



338 THE UNITED STATES. 

Marj^land English Catholic ; Southern group exhib- 
ited Episcopalian and aristocratic traits, even Georgia 
presently assimilating to Virginia type. 2. Industry. 
New England, in main hard farming land, turned early 
to such manufacturing as mother country would permit,^ 
and to trade, very barrenness of soil working good 
through blessings of compelled thrift. Middle and 
Southern groups were at first prevailingly agricultural. 
South remaining so till long after Revolution. 3. 
Political organization. In New England political unit 
was town, several combining to form county, looking 
in turn to larger outline of province, plantation, or com- 
monwealth. In South unit was really the colony, which 
preceded instead of following smaller division as in New 
England, subdivided at need into counties and again 
into parishes. The Middle group in general was con- 
glomerate, a combination of Northern and Southern 
ideas. 4. Relation to English government. One of 
three possible'^ : (i) Charter. Rhode Island and Con- 
necticut. (2) Proprietary. Pennsylvania, Maryland, 
Delaware. (3) Royal. Massachusetts, New Hamp- 
shire, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, 
South Carolina, Georgia. All of which is simply to 
say that up to 1763 the American colonies were part 
and parcel of English dominion, rapidly expanding 
both east and west, Colonials fighting^ England's 
battle and their own in Canada, thought of separation 
as yet impossible.* 

^VeryUmited, as England, though immeasurably advanced 
beyond her time, had still to learn the precious lesson that 
geneious dealing is road to successful colonial administration. 
Both manufactures and commerce were much wider than the 
law, smuggling nearly universal. Over and above contraband 
operations was large movement in fish, lumber, iron, fur, tur- 



THE UNITED STATES. 339 

pentiue, tar, indigo, rice, tobacco. Besides, New England built 
ships, to the great disturbance of British builders. 

- After the Restoration effort was made to reduce all to the 
royal class. Andros was king's great man in attempt to retake 
chartered rights. He succeeded mainly in winning hatred of 
colonists. 

^Success largely due to colonial cooperation. Colonials fought 
side by side with regulars, with few exceptions holding tlieir 
own with them, in some instances even outdoing them. Colonies 
with frontiers exposed to French or Indian attack naturally par- 
ticipated most largely— notably New England, New York, and 
Pennsylvania. New England men were the main element in the 
capture of Port Royal. The great French stronghold, Louisburg, 
was reduced by New Englanders. Though very unevenly dis- 
tributed, colonial expenditure in men and money during the 
Seven Years' War was heavy, increased taxes and debts repre- 
senting the latter, 30,000 dead soldiers the former. Results fol- 
lowed unlooked for on either side of the ocean. Many colonials 
got insight into art of war, and it is significant that large pro- 
portion of officers of Revolutionary army had training in French 
and Indian wars. 

"Even while resisting the royal authority, colonists protested 
utmost loyalty. Numberless examples might be given. Quite 
possibly they had an idea that they were fighting the battle of 
the king, " God bless him ! " against Parliament. An interest- 
ing problem oi^ens in the question whether the king might not 
have ruled the colonies by a Congress as theoretically he ruled 
England by Parliament. Home rule, however, was an idea little 
familiar then, and Parliament was standing on its right to legis- 
late for the Empire. 



SEC. 3. STIRRINGS OF NATIONAL SPIRIT. 

Yet separation, undesired, undreamed of, was near. 
That year 1763 led in great issues for England and for 
■ America : i . It recorded final French dispossession of 
Canada.' 2. Relieved of French and Indian pressure, 
EngUsh colonies were less dependent on England. 3. 
Colonial self-respect had grown upon record of worthy 



340 THK UNITED STATES. 

achievements in war, not lessened b}^ comparison with 
record of men in EngHsh uniform. 4. Slow but steady 
increase had brought population well up toward three- 
million mark. 5. An inter-colonial consciousness had 
come into being through minor confederations, "-' and 
through unofficial association in furtherance of common 
interests. 6. Serious disagreement between colonies 
and crown arose over ownership '' of land between Al- 
leghanies and Mississippi, king claiming it as crown 
land, colonials insisting that it belonged to them. 7. 
Change in English political spirit wrought undesignedly 
for colonial independence. Colonies had been planted 
by royal authority. Parliament, taking over about 
everything else, assumed also colonial legislation, 
thereby unconsciously weakening strongest tie be- 
tween Colonies and England, obligation to crown. 
Herein lies secret of colonial resistance of Parliament 
in king' s name. 8. Exercise of parliamentary juris- 
diction, backed now by royal obstinacy, imposed much 
hardship and more loss upon colonial trade, especially 
New England's.* 9. Withdrawal of oppressive meas- 
ures proved unavailing, because of reasserted parlia- 
mentary authority, a question now paramount even to 
considerations of trade. 10. Protest, embittered by 
incidents like the Boston Massacre^ and the Boston 
Tea Party, passed into open conflict, new phase ushered 
in by Lexington and Concord,^ colonials claiming only 
rights as British subjects. 11. After three-quarters of 
a year's fighting the king in the name of the king, 
royal answer to colonial petition for redress of griev- 
ances came in shape of proclamation calling for troops 
to put down ' ' rebellion ' ' in America. 1 2. Reconcilia- 
tion hopeless, the national spirit, fully awake, found 
voice in the Declaration of Independence. Only the 



THE UNITED STATES. 34 1 

vindication of victory, and that also was near at hand, 
was needed to compel revision of the king's speech. 
The American ' ' rebellion ' ' was to prove the American 
Revolution. 

^ Marking end of French dream of dominion in America. A 
chain of strongholds from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the 
mouth of the Mississippi seemed to mark the interior of the con- 
tinent irrecoverably French. But during French and Indian 
wars, America's part of the Seven Years' War, Duquesne, Fron- 
tenac, Niagara, Crown Point, Ticonderoga, Quebec, Montreal 
fell one by one into hands of English. By Treaty of Paris, 
1763, the American Empire of France was reduced to Miquelon 
and St. Pierre, two barren little islands near Newfoundland, 
fit only for curing fish. 

^ As early as 1643 one was formed of Massachusetts Bay, Ply- 
mouth, Connecticut, and New Haven. In 1690 French and In- 
dian invasion occasioned a congress, to which Massachusetts, 
Plymouth, Connecticut, and New York sent commissioners. 
In 1697 Penn proposed a scheme of permanent union. In 1754 
the Albany Convention seemed to have solved the problem by 
Franklin's plan — present Massachusetts, NewHampshire, Rhode 
Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland — but 
when the plan was proposed to the colonial assemblies not one 
approved, and permanent union was as far off as ever. Still 
the idea of union was becoming more familiar, and in that idea 
lay the possibilities of the future. 

2 Title to newly discovered lands vested in crown. Colonists 
contended that this territory stood on different footinj>, as it 
was hardl}^ unoccupied land, and they had taken forward part 
in winning it. 

* There was some new legislation, like the Stamp Act, but the 
main change was in the matter of enforcement. Prudent offi- 
cial near-sightedness had allowed large trade movement, bulk 
of it illegal. The law forbade commercial relations, except the 
narrowest, with other nations than Great Britain, but the law 
had been practically forgotten. The home government now 
called the colonists back to base. Part of process of enforce- 
ment were the Writs of Assistance, search warrants in blank, 
which placed every man's domicile at the mercy of the king's 
minions. 



342 . I'HE UNITED STATES. 

^ Really a meaningless collision between roj-al garrison and 
section of populace ranging under mob law. Provoked beyond 
endurance, the soldiers opened fire, killing five civilians. The 
occurence was without the remotest political significance, but 
heated sentiment saw in it royal butchery, and patriotism has 
transformed the victims into martyrs of liberty. 

•^ A contingent of British regulars sent to seize military stores 
collected at Concord for colonial use were met by a small body, 
perhaps a hundred, colonials at Lexington, who refused to dis- 
perse until fired upon. The troops then moved on and destroyed 
the stores, but found the whole countryside aroused and fight- 
ing ugly on their return, compelling them to run a gauntlet of 
musketry the entire distance to Boston. The American war of 
independence was on. 



SEC. 4. GOVERNMENT BY DEBATING SOCIETY. 

The national spirit needed an organ. Concerted effort 
had more than once been attempted, as in earl}'' confed- 
eration of New England, treaty combinations of various 
kinds among individual colonies, the Albany Conven- 
tion.' The Stamp Act, in 1765, was followed by a Co- 
lonial Congress composed of delegates from nine colo- 
nies of the thirteen, among whom sentiment of colonial 
union was unmistakable. Nine years later the First 
Continental Congress convened. Georgia was not rep- 
resented, but the Congress was in true sense a national 
body, America's first. The earliest national utterance 
was a Declaration of Colonial Right, protesting to the 
king against Parliament's unconstitutional action. 
Three things more this Congress did, each one of the 
three pregnant with disaster for purblind royalty: i. 
It prepared and circulated a Non-Importation Agree- 
ment.'^ 2. It formally approved Massachusetts' resist- 
ance to the odious measures which had singled her out 
for punishment. 3. It issued the call- for a new Con- 



THK UNI'TRD STATES. 343 

gress six months hence. Events made the Second Con- 
tinental Congress memorable even before it came to- 
gether. The first shot at Lexington brought into force 
the resolution of the First Continental Congress that, 
in case of coercion of Massachusetts, all America should 
stand by her. B}^ that resolution, therefore, colonial 
union had already been an accomplished fact for twenty- 
one days when the Second Continental Congress met, 
May lo, 1775. Whether it would or no, that Congress 
was a national organ. It did not hesitate to give effect 
to the national will, organizing an army, establishing 
a currenc5^ petitioning the king — redress of wrongs, 
not independence,^ still the general thought. By end 
of 1775 independence was conceived with sufficient 
clearness to warrant a Commission of Correspondence 
with friends of the colonies in " Great Britain, Ireland, 
and elsewhere,'" to be followed, July 4, 1776, by the 
memorable resolution in which, speaking for the people, 
Congress declared obligation to mother country at end. 
Thus the old central authority was abolished. In its 
place stood the Continental Congress. With danger- 
ously strict logic, participant states took care that new 
central government should have no more real power 
than the old.* It could argue, advise, request, and 
then the states did as they pleased, — and they usually 
pleased to do the opposite of what Congress asked. 
Under such authorit}^ rather in spite of it, the war was 
carried to successful issue, partly because there were 
men like Washington, whom even the futilities of Con- 
gress could not discourage, partly because, as the 
English statesman declared, there is a special provi- 
dence watching over children, fools, drunken men, and 
the United States. 

47 



344 ^'^^ UNITED STATES. 

^ See sec. 3, 11. 2. 

■^"We, his Majesty's most loyal subjects, avowing our alle- 
giance to his Majesty, our affection and regard for our fellow- 
subjects in Great Britain and elsewhere, affected with the deepest 
anxiety and most alarming apprehensions at those grievances 
and distresses with which his Majesty's American subjects are 
oppressed, find that the present unhappy situation of our affairs 
is occasioned by a ruinous system of Colony Administration 
adopted by the British Ministry about the year 1763, evidently 
calculated for enslaving these Colonies, and, with them, the 
British Empire. * * * To obtain redress of these griev- 
ances, we are of opinion that a Non-Importation, Non-Con- 
sumption, and Non-Exportation Agreement faithfull}!- adhered 
to will prove the most speedy, effectual, and peaceable meas- 
ure." The points of agreement, fourteen in number, fairly jus- 
tify the threefold description in the title, 

^Franklin stoutly averred that after wide inquiry in all parts 
of the country, among all kinds of people, he was persuaded 
that "no one thought of independence, no one, drunk or sober, 
suggesting such a thing." As late as March, 1775, John Adams 
could say of Massachusetts, " That there are any that hunt after 
independence is the greatest slander on the province." A few 
months before, Washington had said, " I am well satisfied that" 
no such thing as independence is desired by any thinking man 
in all North America ; on the contrary, that it is the ardent 
wish of the warmest advocates of liberty that peace and tran- 
quillity on constitutional grounds will be restored." P^ven 
after Washington had been made commander-in-chief of the 
Continental army. Congress declared that " the fondest wish of 
every American soul was an accommodation with the mother 
country." 

*"The Congress had no ability whatever to enforce a decree 
of their own ; they had no revenue and no authority to collect 
a revenue ; they had none of the materials of war ; they did 
not own a cannon, nor a pound of powder, nor a tent, nor a 
musket ; they had no regularly enlisted army, and had even a 
jealousy of forming an armj^, and depended upon the zeal of 
volunteers, or of men to be enlisted for less than seven months." 



THE UNITED STATES. 345 



SEC. 5. LEARNING BY DOING. 

They were awful years, those years of the Revolu- 
tion. Congressional imbecilities, state jealousies of Con- 
gress, divided counsels in the states themselves, bicker- 
ings in the army, short enlistments,^ lack of supplies, 
lack of money, hardest of all, in many quarters lack of 
loyalty, made up a budget of woe to break the heart of 
the bravest. But able and true men were found to 
fight freedom's battle. For a while everything went 
wrong. Boston was evacuated. The Canadian expedi- 
tion failed. New York fell to the British. Philadelphia 
also fell after the defeat of Brandy wine had broken the 
American defense. x\merican hopes were again raised, 
however, by French aid and by splendid victory of 
Saratoga.'^ The awful winter at Valley Forge '^ was re- 
warded by possession of Philadelphia. Then, wearied 
by resistance in Northern and Middle States, British 
attack was made on South. Charleston fell and great 
portion of Southern soil was harried by the enemy. 
The war virtually closed at Yorktown in 1781, Corn- 
wallis following Burgoyne in surrender. Two years 
later England grudgingly acknowledged the American 
states as severeign.* 

Meanwhile the inadequacy of the central government 
had every year grown more apparent. Continental 
bills w^ere not worth using for wrapping paper. ^ State 
bills were nearly as bad. Specie was scarce. Every 
one, including the nation itself, was burdened with 
debt. Vexatious interstate restrictions hampered trade. 
Boundary lines were unsettled. It was the era of bad 
feeling. What England had failed to do the states 
themselves seemed about to undertake, destroy the 



346 THE UNITED STATES. 

national life. The nation had no fundamental law. 
A constitution proposed to the states by Congress in 
1777 was still waiting for ratification. Finall}^ in 1781, 
the last recalcitrant signed and the Articles of Confed- 
eration went into effect. The result was a league of 
states, each with equal voice in Congress, to which 
were delegated the usual forms of sovereignty, barring 
the somewhat important items of an executive, a judi- 
ciary, revenue, and power to enforce decrees. For a 
time there was great rejoicing that permanent govern- 
ment had been established. Then the inherent weak- 
ness of the system began to work itself clear. States 
defied the nation ^ with impunit}' . Absence of coercive 
power placed the nation at a disadvantage in dealing 
with foreign states.' An advisory board is a poor sub- 
stitute for national government. Then Shays' Rebel- 
lion ® showed what state insubordination promised for 
the future when it had borne fruit within the states 
themselves. From all parts of the Confederation came 
demand for reorganization in interests of competent 
government. 

^ It seems incredible, but more than once men whose term ex- 
pired on a given day left the army, though battle was certain on 
the morrow. The wonder is that real patriots were not driven 
stark mad. 

2 Burgoyne moved down from Canada, thinking to cleave colo- 
nial defense by way of Hudson. Clinton was to support him 
from New York, but failed to get up the river in time. The 
colonials surrounded the British force, which found itself unable 
to break a way either onward toward Clinton, hastening to his 
relief, or backward toward Canada. Stand still he could not, 
for lack of supplies. October 17, 1777, he surrendered with 
6,000 men, Clinton and relief now only fifty miles away. The 
moral effect of the victory was very great, rousing colonial 
spirit and strengthening negotiations with France. 



THE UNITED STATES. 347 

■' Redeemed by new sense of duty. Washington saw and re- 
joiced in the change. "Naked and vStarving as they are," he 
wrote, "we cannot sufficiently admire the incomparable patience 
and fidelity of the soldiers." 

* Recognizing not the Confederation but the states. It took 
some time to get the idea fairly impressed that the central gov- 
ernment was exercising the general sovereignty.- This little 
strange, seeing that the states themselves came to the idea 
slowly. 

^ " Not worth a continental " is more than a figure of speech. 
It tells a story of suicidal finance. The printing press was set 
to do the work of the tax-collector, with the inevitable result. 
To make the situation worse, the only security was the promise 
of an irresponsible bod}'^, neither feared nor respected. Every 
new issue of paper lessened the value of all issues. In 1781 a 
thousand continental. dollars were worth one dollar in coin. 
One of the jokes of the period was that counterfeiting no longer 
challenged attention, good and bad bills l)eing about equally 
worthless. 

" Rhode Island withdrew her representation and refused to 
replace it. New Jersey in protest against an injurious New 
York tariff retaliated by decreeing taxation of a light-house on 
Sandy Hook, greatly important to New York commerce. Sev- 
eral States— Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and 
Georgia — in defiance of Articles of Confederation, raised troops 
on their own account. 

^ Constant complaint was made by foreign powers that treaty 
relations with the central government were violated by indi- 
vidual states. A well founded and practically universal sus- 
picion was voiced by England in 1785, when her representative 
said to American commissioners seeking a treaty, "The apparent 
determination of the respective states to regulate their own 
separate interests renders it absolutely necessary towards form- 
ing a permanent system of commerce, that my court should be 
informed how far the commissioners can be duly authorized to 
enter into any engagement with Great Britain which it may not 
be in the power of any one of the states to render totally useless 
and inefficient." 

^In Massachusetts. Intolerably burdened with debt, the 
farmers of the western part of the state marched upon Spring- 
field and Worcester, demanding that the courts cease lending 



348 THK UNITED STATES. 

themselves to the collection of debts. The iusurrection was 
quickly stopped, but it set men in Massachusetts and elsewhere 
to thinking of the importance of a sufficient central authority 
in state and nation. 



SEC. 6. REORGANIZATION. 

The principle of popular sovereignty had been ap- 
plied to successively larger areas — town, county, colony, 
state; but there stopped. Failure to see the larger ap- 
plication left the states without a common center, 
resulting in the constitutional anarch}^ of the Confed- 
eration. The situation became intolerable. But how 
to change it for the better was not clear. Political 
sentiment was divided. At one extreme were mon- 
archists, proposing to import a prince and go on the 
good old way of government by royalt3\ At the other 
were extreme States Righters, advocating a leagtie of 
thirteen republics. Between stood the bone and muscle 
and brain of the country, demanding worthy central 
government, stipulating only that the individual states 
should be respected. The solution was found in the 
thought of double citizenship. The townsman has 
relations of one kind with fellow-townsmen, relations 
of a different kind with the same townsmen, common 
members with himself of the county. So in the larger 
sphere the same citizen lias obligations toward state 
and toward nation. Let these obligations be defined 
to avoid crossing of authority, and the old division of 
interest between state and nation will become a thing 
of the past. Then the central authority will deal with 
its citizens directly instead of through the medium of 
the states.^ So, after sore travail of soul, the framers 
of the new instrument of government got the Hght. 



THE UNITED STATEvS. 349 

Then for a headless, courtless, penniless, forceless 
shadow, masquerading as a government, was substi- 
stuted a real embodiment of sovereignty, with exec- 
utive, legislative, and judicial organs, supported by 
adequate powers, fitted to do the nation's work, while 
safeguarding the interests of individual states by most 
ample guarantees/ 

^ Herein lies importance of Federal judiciary. Hitherto noth- 
ing but unsecured promise of state lay between central gov- 
ernment and anarchy. Experience quickly showed how worth- 
less such promise was when it threatened state interest. By the 
creation of Federal courts, extending throughout states, espe- 
cially charged with definition of Federal duty and- Federal au- 
thority, their decisions supported by Federal power, the central 
government was brought into working relations with every cit- 
izen, so far as his life concerned the life of the whole. 

^ It was perhaps inevitable that the question should early arise, 
how much the states intended to surrender in adopting the 
Constitution. The whole matter was pretty thoroughly debated 
while adoption was in progress. Naturally the element of state 
concession was minimized by those who saw peril to the entire 
movement toward Union in the fears of the more pronounced 
advocates of the old order. As naturally, those jealous of all 
invasion of state sovereignty, and they were many, were care- 
ful to magnify that same element of concession. ^ How closely 
balanced the two parties were, if unorganized elements shaping 
to the same end may be called a party, is shown by slowness of 
decision in several states and by narrowness of final majorities, 
31 to 29 in New York, 88 to 80 in Virginia, 187 to 168 in Massa 
chusetts. Hamilton, Jay, and Madison did yeoman service in 
behalf of the new order, noble product of which is the Feder- 
alist. Even when new government went into effect controversy 
did not cease, pros and cons now consolidated into Federalists 
and Anti-Federalists. Particular points of attack and defense 
have of course varied with the years, but to this day the debate 
continues between liberal and strict constructionist, Federalist, 
Whig, and Republican naming line of party succession support- 
ing former sentiment, Anti- Federalist and Democrat represent- 
ing the latter. 



350 The united states. 



SEC. 7. THE CONSTITUTION AND ITS MAKERS. 

The League of Friendship^ gave way to " a more 
perfect union," '^ a national government taking the 
place of a committee of requisition. The new Consti- 
tution was a blending of federalist and separatist ideas. 
The Senate represents state equality and indestructi- 
bility. The House of Representatives stands for the 
popular will. The President, answerable to no power 
during his appointed term, except by impeachment, is 
legally the elect of a special representative college of 
states, but by usage long since became the people's 
man. The Federal judiciary, theoretically independ- 
ent of political considerations, with rare happy excep- 
tions is composed of appointees of the party control- 
ling the Presidency when the appointments were made. 
The dominant idea throughout was that of a central 
government strong enough to command respect, with 
due safeguarding of state sovereignty. To the former 
were assigned certain duties touching the common 
weal, with powers adequate to their discharge. To 
the latter belong, as formerly, all duties and powers 
not designated as national.^ 

The men who prepared the Constitution were among 
the ablest on the continent. Patrick Henry was elected 
to the Convention, but declined to serve. Jefferson 
was in France. But an}^ list is a roll of honor when it 
contains the names of King, Gerr}^ Strong, Sherman, 
Ellsworth, Hamilton, Franklin, the Morrises, Wilson, 
Rutledge, the Pinckneys, Randolph, Mason, Madison, 
Washington. Incredible difficulties were adjusted* by 
these men, who wrought as men have seldom wrought 
for their country. No one did all. No one was with- 



yhp: united states. 351 

out influence. Checks and balances were perfected, 
conserving widel^v different interests.^ When the work 
was done the record might have been expressed in the 
words of Washington, who had so often by speech and 
deed sounded the note of national safety, and who had 
plead for strength and justice, not mere policy, in the 
Constitution : " It is too probable that no plan we pro- 
pose will be adopted. Perhaps another dreadful con- 
flict is to be sustained. If to please the people we offer 
what we ourselves disapprove, how^ can we afterwards 
defend our work ? Let ics raise a standard to ivhich the 
zvise and honest can repair. The event is in the haiid of 

Godr 

' " The style of this Confederacy shall be, ' The United States 
of America.' 

" The said states hereby severally enter into a firm league of 
friendship with each other, for their common defense, the secur- 
ity of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, 
binding themselves to assist each other against all force to or 
attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, 
sovereignty, trade, or any other pretense whatever." Articles 
of Confederation, I and III. 

2 " We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more 
perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, 
provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, 
and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our poster- 
ity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United 
States of America." Preamble to Constitution. 

^The Federal Government is thus a government of specified 
powers, everything not named being reserved to states, though 
the enabling clause. Art. I, Sec. VIII, i8, has been held with in- 
creasing frequency to authorize a variety of action not specified, 
but implied. It is interesting to compare the Canadian fed- 
eration, in which the situation is exactly reversed, the central 
government standing residuary legatee. In our system every- 
thing not specifically given is retained by states. In Canadian 
system everything not specifically withheld to provinces is given 
to Dominion. 

48 



352 THE UNITED .STATES. j 

* Every fresh study of the Constitution brings fact more clearh' 
to light that the history of our great document is a story of com- 
promise. Small state protected against great state by Senate, 
great state given rightful weight by proportional representation, 
central government vested with recognized function and author- 
ity, state guaranteed against reduction to mere administra- 
tive division, slavery both recognized and limited, — so it goes 
throughout. Administration has necessarily given large place 
to compromise, from the log rolling which gave state war debts 
to Federal treasury and the capital to the Potomac, down to 
latest River and Harbor steal, by which undreamed of improve- 
tnents are paid for in one section by votes interested in like 
enterprises in other sections. 

^We have been encouraged to regard the Constitution as a 
stroke of happy inspiration. The men who sweated blood in 
thinking it into shape would count that idea a bit of grim humor. 
Over and over the best men were on the verge of despair. The 
greatest claim of the makers of the Constitution to our reverence 
lies in their refusal at last to go so far in deference to supposed 
popular sentiment as to make valueless the structure they had 
been set to build. Herein, as so often, Washington wrought for 
the salvation of the country. Servility to mistaken and mis- 
understood popular clamor seemed on the point of perfecting 
its work of weakness, when Washington rose in his place and 
spoke the words with which the .section closes The effect was 
immediate. The event showed that Washington's high-niind- 
edness had saved the state. 



SEC. 8. FIRST YEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. 

For a decade and a half the one indispensable man 
in America had been Washington. Reward for scan- 
tily requited sacrifice now came in the devotion of four 
million fellow-citizens, who delighted to call him the 
Father of his Country. Twice in succession he was 
unanimous choice' of electoral college for hio^hest office 
in gift of a grateful people. Then, sorely against the 
will of the people, he retired to private life, only still 



THE UNITKD STATES. 353 

to be the nation's mentor. The presidency of Wash- 
ington was a fortunate thing for the country. Personal 
devotion to him was about the strongest unifying force 
of those formative 3^ears. Unmindful, if not uncon- 
scious, of possibility of political parties, and seeding 
only ablest aid available, the President made Jefferson"^ 
Secretary of State, Hamilton^ Secretary of Treasury, 
Knox Secretary of War, Randolph Attorney General, 
Jay Chief Justice. Each of these aids contributed val- 
uable share toward getting national government into 
operation, Hamilton most of all in masterly organiza- 
tion of national finances. His straightforward dealing 
with debt, foreign and domestic, established the na- 
tional credit, while his sympathy with a strong central 
power, backed by marvelous ability, made him worthy 
to stand beside his great chief as a pillar of state. Rev- 
enue .was provided by a revenue tax on importations, 
supplemented four years later by an excise tax on 
whisky. The United States Bank was chartered in 
1791; the mint was opened in 1792; so that a national 
currency was added to unifying influences already at 
work. Washington's second term was full of trouble. 
The French Revolution was in full swing, engaging 
American sympathy,* even after Citizen Genet's^ defi- 
ance and collapse. English relations were unsatisfac- 
tory, remedied little b}^ Jay's treaty.*' The Whisk}^ In- 
surrection^ was quelled by decisive action, but was a 
disquieting symptom, none the less. Bitter abuse smote 
heart of President.^ Though strenuously importuned 
to serve a third term, he declined, and withdrew to well- 
earned repose of Mount Vernon, leaving as his political 
legacy an operative national organization, an unim- 
peachable record, an official character destined to grow 
ever greater, and the immortal Farewell Address. 



354 I'HE UNITED STATES. 

John Adams, 1 797-1801, political heir and successor 
of Washington, had to face French anger at supposed 
American S3mipathy with England, answered by pas- 
sionate demand for war with France. So high did war 
spirit run that Adams and his Federalist following, em- 
boldened to point of despotism, made and, worse still, 
enforced Alien^ and Sedition'" Laws. Ominous response 
was made by Kentucky and Virginia resolutions," but 
government leaders could not read signs of times. Ar- 
bitrariness and blindness were rewarded by overthrow 
at next election. Federalism, as a party name, went 
out of office in the person of President Adams, with ex- 
hibition of pett}^ spite unworthy both man and office. 

1 Until Xllth Amendment went into force, 1804, electors did 
not vote for President and Vice-President as such, but for two 
persons, of whom the one receiving the majority of votes was 
thereby elected President. Every elector gave one of his votes 
for Washington. This was true both in 1789 and in 1793. This 
unanimity is one of Washington's unique distinctions. Once a 
successor lacked a single vote of unanimity — Monroe, in 1821 — 
a sturdy New Hampshire elector deliberately throwing his vote 
to an impossible candidate with the avowed purpose of saving 
Washington's fame. 

2 A loose constructionist and apologist for Shays, whose rebel- 
lion he regarded as natural and wholesome. "A little rebellion 
is a good thing and ought not to be too much discouraged. God 
forbid that we should be twenty years without such a rebellion." 
His thought was that the tree of liberty could flourish only if 
watered and enriched by the blood of tyrants and patriots. It 
is only fair to add that when Jefferson came to power his own 
good sense and the feeling of responsibility offset these vagaries 
of political enthusiasm. 

^ Loose constructionist, a Federalist of the Federalists. 
Whether as statesman or public financier, he has no superior 
among his countrymen. His untimel}' death was a national 
calamity. 



THE UNITED STATES. 355 

*By the treaty of 1778 the United States engaged to defend 
the colonial possessions of France — that is, in the West Indies. 
Hamilton argued that the Revolution abrogated, the treaty. 
Jefferson argued that the treaty was still binding. But both 
were strong that proper course for United States was neutrality. 
The President accordingly issued a proclamation announcing 
American neutrality as between France and Kngland. Heart 
of people was with France and great odium attached to Presi- 
dent's determination to keep country out of European quarrels. 
Democratic clubs were formed on Jacobin model, and in more 
than one place orgies of enthusiasm were enacted that would 
have done credit to Paris itself. 

5 So sure did France feel of herself and of the United States 
that her envoy proceeded to organize war against England on 
American soil. Privateer after privateer was manned by Amer- 
ican seamen and sent to prey upon British commerce. Backed 
by popular sentiment, he demanded official aid. There was no 
1 imit to his insolence. The regular session of Congress was some 
months off. He insisted that a special session be held. The Pres- 
ident refused to countenance him. He formed the purpose— 
this is vouched for by Chief Justice Jay and Senator King, of 
New York — of appealing to the people against the President. 
Then political sense returned to the American people. Citizen 
Genet found himself alone in a strange land. At Washington's 
request he was recalled. Genet partly redeemed himself by 
showing sense enough to be afraid to return to France. Genet 
the official was recalled. Genet the man stayed in the United 
States, settling in New York State, married, and made a record 
as a good citizen until his death in 1836. 

® Simply made best of bad situation. Removed some griev- 
ances like the continued holding of western forts, but left im- 
pressment of American seamen still possible, the harassing of 
American commerce still probable, the limitation of West India 
trade still certain. Washington's course with Genet touched 
the sympathies of the people, and they were angry. His course 
with England touched their pockets, so they were more than 
angry. But Washingtc n felt as Jay did, that an unsatisfactory 
settlement was better than none at all, and the event justified 
him. Within a year trade was so far revived that the worst 
bitterness over the treaty was forgotten. 



356 THE UNITKD STATES. 

^The Excise Act of 1791 had never been popular. South- 
western Pennsylvania made a good deal of whisky and was cor- 
respondingly unsympathetic toward a whisky tax. Finally 
they refused outright to pay it. Revenue officers were roughly 
handled. Washington met the issue promptly, calling out the 
militia of Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, 
15,000 strong. The mere show of force was enough. Two men 
were convicted of treason, but were pardoned, and the trouble 
was at an end, 

**So fierce were the attacks, some of them positively' indecent, 
that Washington himself declared that such language " could 
scarcely be applied to a Nero, to a notorious defaulter, or even 
to a common pickpocket." A writer in the Aurora hailed the 
retirement of Washington to private life as the beginning of the 
country's salvation, since "he who had been the source of all the 
misfortunes of the country was at length brought down to the 
level of his fellow-citizens, that he could no longer by his name 
give currency to political iniquity or afford support to suspicious 
projects, and that the designs he had formed against the very 
existence of public liberty were now at an end." And the same 
high-minded sheet declared editorially, "If ever a nation was 
debauched by a man, the American nation has been debaviched 
by Washington. Let his conduct, then, be an example to future 
ages. Let it serve to be a warning that no man may be an idol. 
Let the history of the Federal Government instruct mankind 
that the mask of patriotism may be worn to conceal the foulest 
designs against the liberty of the people." 

^Authorized President to order departure, under penalty for 
disobedience, from United States of any alien whom he regarded 
dangerous to the public peace. 

^° An un-American gag-law forbidding, under penalty of heavy 
fine and imprisonment, combination against any Government 
measure, or * ' any false, scandalous, or malicious writing against 
the Government, Congress, or President of the United States." 

"Protesting against Alien and Sedition Laws as an infraction 
of the Constitution, and declaring it the duty of the States under 
such circumstances to interpose, Virginia published her Reso- 
lution in 1798. She was seconded by Kentucky, which went 
farther, declaring the Union a compact between the Federal 
Government on one part and the states on the other, each party 



THH UNITED STATES. 35 y 

to be judge of infraction of the compact mid of the process of 
redress. The following year both states republished their decla- 
rations, Kentucky now adding that nullification is the proper 
remedy for Federal invasion of state rights. But nullification 
was a more innocent word than it was in 1832, as evidenced by 
the fact that Kentucky went on to say that, while solemnly pro- 
testing against the obnoxious laws, she "bowed to the laws of 
the Union." 



SFX. 9. THE DEMOCRATIC SUCCESSION. 

Even within Washington's cabinet two distinct polit- 
ical theories were formulated, though as yet the corre- 
sponding parties w^ere unformed. Hamilton and Jef- 
ferson never agreed, each magnifying what the other 
minified, the former steadily urging liberal construc- 
tion of the Constitution in interest of central govern- 
ment, the latter as steadily urging close construction 
and limited central power. Until the passing of John 
Adams, official tendency was all Hamilton's way. 
Then for sixty years, barring the single month of Whig 
triumph in the person of William H. Harrison and the 
single term of Taylor and Fillmore, Jeffersonian ideas 
ruled through the varying phases of Democracy. But 
Federalism did not cease with the name. A central 
government strong enough to do its work is the prime 
condition of national existence.' The moment Jeffer- 
son went into the White House he administered his 
olhce as strenuously as Washington himself could have 
desired.' Madison denounced as disloyal and uncon- 
stitutional New England's action under the Constitu- 
tion in the militia cases' during the war of 1812. 
Jackson did to nullification* precisely what Lincoln 
would have done in his place. New issues frequently 
arose during those sixty years, resulting in perpetual 



35^ YHli UNIl'ED S'TAl^ES. 

regrouping, so that much of the time Democratic 
continuity was rather a matter of name than of essence. 
Economic and social development finally gave special 
significance to the original Democratic political prin- 
ciple, leading to the life-and-death struggle of the early 
sixties,^ when servitude and state supremacy and the 
old Democratic party went out together. 

^ Indeed, from this time on the main practical difference be- 
tween the parties on constitutional questions depended upon 
possession of office, with corresponding responsibilit}'. Each 
side did in turn when in power what it hotly opposed when out. 

•^ Witness the whole Louisiana transaction. The Constitution 
said nothing about the acquisition of foreign territory ; but, 
Constitution or no Constitution, Louisiana involved too impor- 
tant interests to allow question over taking it when opportunity 
offered. So in flat defiance of all his own constitutional theories 
Jefferson paid fifteen million dollars for it, contemplating an 
ex post facto authorizing amendment, which, however, was 
never adopted, vnimistakable popular approval offering all 
needed justification. 

^ Major part of fighting during war of 1812 was done by mili- 
tiamen. The war was very unpopular in New England, whose 
states refused to furnish militia for general war operations. No 
objection was made to volunteer service, but official encourage- 
ment there was none. Connecticut declared that it must " yield 
obedience to the paramount authority of the Constitution and 
the laws." Massachusetts insisted that there was no invasion, 
and consequently no constitvitional warrant for sending militia. 
New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont took similar 
ground, the last named stating it as its opinion that " the mili- 
tary strength and resources of this state must be reserved for its 
own defense and protection exclusivel}-." We must not miss 
the point in all this: i. It was the militia officially organized 
that was refused, and this on constitutional grounds. 2. These 
states were forward in the national defense, Massachusetts 
alone furnishing as many troops as Virginia, North Carolina, 
and South Carolina, New England more than all the Southern 
States put together. Concerning New England, Madison said: 



THE UNITED vSTATES. 359 

"The greater part of the people in that quarter have been 
brought by their leaders, aided by their priests, under a delusiou 
scarcely exceeded by that recorded in the period of witchcraft, 
and the leaders themselves are becoming daily more desperate 
in the use they make of it." 

* See sec. 11. 

'See sees. 13, 14, 15. 



SEC. 10. JEFFERSON TO MONROE. 

Jefferson, 1 801- 1809, came to the presidenc)^ at a 
fortunate hour. The national government was re- 
spected, the country was prosperous, his personal in- 
fluence was unbounded. The purchase of Louisiana 
in 1803 made the mouth of the Mississippi American 
and doubled the national area.' Gallatin administered 
the Treasury with eminent success. The Judiciary 
suffered at the President's hands, though partial excuse 
is offered by circumstances of appointment in several 
cases.' Jefferson's second term was less happy than 
the first. The checking of Algerine piracy was a serv- 
ice to the whole world, -^ but later events brought little 
save trouble. Burr's conspiracy falls here.' French 
and British counter-blockades first stimulated, then 
strangled, American sea trade. ^ To punish both bellig- 
erants, Jefferson tried peaceable coercion by the Em- 
bargo.^ Its principal effect was to complete the ruin 
of American commerce begun by Napoleon and the 
British ministry. After two years Jefferson yielded to 
universal opposition and substituted Non-Intercourse ' 
for Embargo, his policy discredited and his earlier 
successes dimmed by failure.^ 

Madison, 1 809-1 817, fell heir to Jefferson's diplo- 
macy. Hoodwinked by Napoleon, the government grew 

49 



360 THE UNITED STATES. 

bitter against England. So passed two years. Then 
demand was made for something more effective than 
peaceable coercion. Hasty preparations were made 
for war. Then followed war. Incidents of note were: 
I. Resnltless invasion of Canada. 2. Perry's brilliant 
exploits on Lake Erie. 3. Vandal destruction of Wash- 
ington. 4. Sea duels, mainly favorable to America. 
5. Jackson's victory at New Orleans. Peace was 
restored by Treaty of Ghent, 18 14, in which the osten- 
vSible causes of the war are not even mentioned, im- 
pressment and right of search. The Hartford 
Convention, a second clearing of the Algerine pirate 
nest, and the Tariff Act qf 18 16 marked the close of 
this administration, which, despite its troubled course, 
ended in prosperity. 

Monroe, 18 17-1825, elected the first time almost 
unanimously, the second time lacking unanimity by a 
single vote, led in the Era of Good Feeling. Standing 
by the blackened ruins of the Capitol to take his oath 
of office and deliver iiis inaugural, he called the people 
to larger hope by reference to the unharmed foundations 
on which workmen were alread}^ rearing a new struct- 
ure. This was the keynote of his speech during eight 
years. This was well, for events were in preparation 
to try the soul of the nation. Among these may be men- 
tioned: I. The Acquisition of Florida. 2. The Mis- 
souri Compromise.'' 3. The extension of the National 
Road, opening the West. 4. The Monroe Doctrine. 

^ New Orleans commanded the mouth of the Mississippi. As 
long as it remained in foreign hands the trade of the great 
waterway was disastrously hampered. When under pressure of' 
what seemed necessity the Spanish Treaty of 1786 was negoti- 
ated, leaving a commercial dam at the mouth of the Mississippi 
in the shape of regulation of traffic by the Crescent City, Ken- 



THK UNITED STATES. 36 1 

tucky and the adjacent region went wild and violent threats of 
withdrawal from the Confederation were made. There was thus 
more than territorial gain in the Purchase. But the territorial 
gain was immense, more than doubling the national domain, 
^ 17 1,931 square miles added as against an original expanse of 
827,844 square miles. 

2 Special reference is to *' midnight judges." The Democrats 
claimed that the twenty-four new Federal Courts erected as term 
of Congress was near end were created to make places for Fed- 
eralist lieutenants, and that President Adams worked till mid- 
night his last day in office to get the commissions in shape. 

^ The incredible fact stands that the Mohammedan cut-throats 
of the North African coast, particularly at Tripoli and Algiers, 
for decades levied blackmail on Christian commerce in the 
Mediterranean, the Mistress of the Seas paying tribute along 
with the rest. The United States long followed the line, at one 
time paying the chief pirate at Tripoli twenty thousand dollars 
a year, to say nothing of presents and redemption fees, to be let 
alone. Happily, with increased exactions, a little navy was got 
into shape under Bainbridge, Decatur, and Preble. Jefferson 
sent a few ships to Tripoli with America's compliments and we 
paid no more tribute to piracy. 

*An ill-digested scheme of conquest and a kingdom in the 
Southwest, which fell to pieces of its own impracticability. 
Burr was brought to trial in Virginia, but the trial, like the 
enterprise, came to nothing. 

5 Part of the paper campaign of the Napoleonic war. For a 
little America carried about all the neutral trade, because the 
double blockading scheme immediately cut off European par- 
ticipants. Then America felt the paralysis. France confiscated 
all vessels that had touched English influence, even to the extent 
of being searched. England confiscated all vessels bearing for 
France or a French dependency. This meant prohibition of 
ocean traffic altogether. 

^ Foreign vessels must go as they were. If they chanced to 
be loaded, well. If not loaded, they must go without cargo. 
American shipping was forbidden to sail for a foreign port in 
any condition. 

^ United States ports were closed to French and British vessels, 
but trade with other countries was allowed. 



362 THK UNITED STATES. 

^ The close of Jefferson's official life was not beautiful. The 
last three months of his closing term he let the presidential office 
take care of itself , In December, before his retirement, he said, 
" I am chiefly an unmeddling listener to what others say." In 
January he said, " I am now so near retiring that I take no part 
in affairs beyond the expression of an opinion. Five weeks 
more will relieve me from a drudgery to which I am no longer 
equal." These are the words of one both disappointed and 
weary. Notwithstanding all this, he carried to Monticello a 
reputation for integrity and wisdom which left him practically 
a political dictator, A proof that this reputation was deserved 
is the fact that it has grown with the years. 

^ Destined to play a vital part in the great drama of slavery 
and freedom. Free and slave states were now equal, eleven 
each. Missouri sought admission with a pro-slavery constitu- 
tion. South naturally supported, North as naturally opposed. 
Finally agreement was reached that Missouri should come in as 
a slave state, but that all Louisiana territory west and north of 
Missouri should be basis of free states only. "■ And be it fur- 
ther enacted. That in all that territor}' ceded by France to the 
United States under the name of Louisiana which lies north of 
36° 30'' north latitude, not included within the limits of the 
state contemplated by this act, slavery and involuntary servi- 
tude, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the 
parties shall have been duly convicted, shall be, and is hereby, 
forever prohibited." The day the Compromise was adopted 
men went home in great content, saying, "The qviestion of 
slavery is forever settled." In twenty-five years this " settled " 
question divided the nation. Yet fifteen years and it had del- 
uged the continent in blood. As so often proves the case, 
finality had not been reached by compromise. 

SEC. II. ADAMS TO TYLER. 

John Quiiicy Adam.s, 1 825-1 829. The era of good 
feeling was followed by a scrub race for the presidency. 
Adams owed his success neither to popular nor to elec- 
toral choice. Absence of majorit}^ ' threw election into 
House, where Clay's following gave Adams the support 



THK UNITED STATES. 363 

needed to pass Jackson's plurality. The combination '^ 
hurt Clay and Adams, bringing down a torrent of abuse 
which never slackened. The President had to deal 
with opposition, part honest, part factious, during entire 
term, unbending, tactless integrity lessening rather 
than multiplying friends. Reelection was out of the 
question, and he left behind a melancholy record of 
profitless endeavor, the single achievement of four 
3^ears recorded in the tariff act of 1828. 

Jackson, 1829-1837, was a son of the soil. Vigorous, 
fearless, forceful, he dominated his party as completely 
as Jefferson in his palmy days, like him a Democrat, 
but unlike him an embodiment '^ of democracy. Several 
events make the period memorable: i. The Civil Service 
was first conceived as party plunder.* 2. The growth 
of nationality was exemplified by the promptness with 
which a States' Rights President stamped the life out of 
nullification/ 3. Bluster, backed by show of force, 
brought liquidation of claims against France for spolia- 
tion of commerce. 4. Official hostility killed the Bank, 
while the system of pet banks encouraged speculation 
and wild-cat finance, which could end only in disaster. 
5. Unwittingly the President himself took the last pre- 
caution to make disaster inevitable by his specie circular 
of 1836,*^ though the crash did not come until a year 
later. 6. Cabinet honor was discounted b)^ studied 
neglect of President." Here is mixture of good and bad. 
Administration and man were alike a contradiction. A 
strict constructionist, he construed the Constitution to 
suit himself. An apostle of pure government, he orig- 
inated the national spoils system. An exponent of 
native honesty, he supported a cabal composed of ex- 
perts in wire-pulling. A champion of the poor against 
the tyranny of the Bank, his policy led to financial coj. 



364 THE UNITED STATES. 

lapse of 1837, resultant suffering falling, as usual, 
mainly on poor. These contradictions must not be for- 
gotten in estimates of his success. 

Van Buren, 1837-1841, had been Jackson's manager, 
rewarded by State portfolio and then vice-presidency, 
now by presidency itself, as Jackson wished. He suc- 
ceeded to a legacy of financial panic, ^ and the mOvSt im- 
portant measure of his administration sprang from the 
consequent discussion, the subtreasury plan.** 

Harrison and Tyler, 1 841-1845. Revulsion of feel- 
ing toward those in power always accompanies disaster. 
•The Democrats were in power. Anti-Jackson, anti- 
Deraocratic factions now joined in demand for change. 
The new coalition, the short-lived Whig party, '° put up 
an old soldier as their candidate and carried him to the 
White House on a platform of Whigism, coon skins, 
and hard cider, through such a campaign as the country 
never saw before or since. In a month President Tip- 
pecanoe was dead. As a sop to Southern electorate 
Tyler, an old-line Virginia States' Rights, anti-Jackson- 
ian Democrat, had been made Vice-President, and now, 
through a judgment upon political fatuity, he was the 
official head of a party which cared nothing for him 
and for which he cared nothing." His administration, 
however* saw a Canadian boundary dispute with Eng- 
land settled by the Ashburton treaty and Texas ad- 
mitted to the Union. 

^Jackson had 99 votes, Adams 84, Crawford 41, Clay 37. In 
the House 13 states voted for Adams, 7 for Jackson, 4 for Craw- 
ford. 

2 Adams made Clay Secretary of State, and everybody sus- 
pected a bargain, Q\a.y getting State portfolio for making Adams 
President. 

^ "Jefferson, however, was not one of the people, but a being 
of a higher order, stooping to identify himself with the people, 



THE UNITED STATES. 365 

who, as they were not yet conscious of their power, were cap- 
tivated by his condescension." 

* Of course, power of removal had been exercised by his prede- 
cessors, but the cases were few and almost always for cause. 
Jefferson believed in due participation, of office as a matter of 
right, but was mightily perplexed to know how vacancies were 
to be provided. " Those by death are few, by resignation none. 
Can any other method than that of removal be proposed ? " But 
Jefferson's removals were a mere handful compared with those 
with which Jackson now swept the Civil Service, making no 
attempt to disguise the fact that he wanted the places for his 
friends. 

^Objecting to protection in general and to the new tariff in 
particular, South Carolina brought up the old claim that a state 
as principal has the right to declare null and void the act of its 
agent, the central government. On this theory South Carolina 
" nullified" the tariffs of 1828 and 1832, prohibiting payment of 
duties under those laws after the first day of February, 18^3 
forbidding appeal in the case to Federal courts and stating sev- 
eral things that would follow attempted coercion. Old Hickory 
furbished up his most solemn oath and swore " by the Eternal " 
that Nullification was brother of blood to Disunion, that dis- 
union by armed force was treason, and that nullification must 
cease. Preparation was made to enforce the President's procla- 
mation. South Carolina yielded, and then the Federal Govern- 
ment modified the specially obnoxious features of the tariff. 

« Directing that in sale of public lands nothing but specie be 
accepted in payment. The flood of paper money had been 
growing steadily larger, while its value grew steadily less. The 
purpose back of the circular was the supply of the Treasury with 
hard money. Arbitrary, violent, sudden, this change of policy 
could not fail of disastrous results. 

^Jackson made little real use of his cabinet except as secre- 
taries and heads of departments, relying for advice mainly upon 
a body of intimates pointedly described by the newspaper wits 
of the day as a kitchen cabinet, William B. I^ewis, Amos Ken- 
dall, Duff Green, and Isaac Hill. 

« " I leave this great people prosperous and happy," said Jack- 
son in his farewell address. Within a year the financial situa- 
tion was so frightful that John Quincy Adams could say. 



366 I^HE UNITED vSTATES. 

*' Without a dollar of national debt, we are in the midst of 
national bankruptcy." The trouble began in New Orleans. 
New York followed. Then panic swept the country. 

^Instead of a system of pet banks to handle government 
fimds, an independent treasury was established with branches, 
known as subtreasuries, at important points, now Boston, New 
York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis, 
New Orleans, San Francisco. 

^° Clay was the soul of this organization and its recognized 
leader, but he never reached the White House by it, though it 
elected two presidents. The main points of Whig doctrine 
were: i. Internal improvements by the Federal Government. 
2. Protection. 3. The Bank. 4. In part, limitation of slavery 
to present domain. 

^^ After the President's veto of the second Bank Bill, drawn 
in accordance with his own suggestions, the Whigs publicly re- 
pudiated him. The}' issued Addresses to the People outlining 
the programme undertaken by them, but thwarted by the Presi- 
dent, and declared that "ail political connection between them 
and John T)4er was at an end from that day forth." 



SEC. 12. POLK TO BUCHANAN. 

Polk, 1845-1849. The administration confirmed the 
principle, already well establi.shed, of rotation in office. 
The dispute with England over the northwestern 
boundary was settled by adoption of the line of 49°.' 
Meanwhile dispute with Mexico over the southwest 
had strained relations to the breaking point. "^ Texas, 
having fought herself free from Mexico, was admitted 
to the Union in 1845. This was a matter between the 
United States and Texas. A matter which concerned 
Mexico also was the question of what constituted Texas. ^ 
Polk ordered troops into disputed territory and declared 
that Mexico had committed breach of peace when this 
high-handed settlement was resisted. War could end 
only one way. Mexico brought to her knees thank- 



1 



THK UNITED STATES. 3^7 

fully accepted fifteen million dollars for what she could 
not keep, and the United States was increased by ac- 
quisition second only in extent to Louisiana. The new 
territory proved a perfect harvest ground of trouble, not 
lessened by Wilmot Proviso * and discovery of gold in 
California. 

Taylor and Fillmore, 1849-1853. Feeling, pro and 
con, over slavery had growm more intense every year. 
Organization of Mexican spoils threatened open issue, 
but Clay still lived, and another of his famous compro- 
mises, that of 1850,^ postponed the inevitable day. 
While the compromise was under discussion, the Pres- 
ident died and the Vice-President took his place and 
continued his policy. 

Pierce, 1853-1857. The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 
steadily made friends for freedom. More and more 
political life was shaped by the engrossing interests of 
slavery. Visions of new slave land w^ere opened by the 
Gadsden Purchase*^ and by expected filibuster success 
in Cuba and Central America, the Ostend Manifesto" 
intended to aid thereto. The Kansas-Nebraska Bill,*" 
carried by splendid audacity of Douglas, virtually re- 
pealed the Missouri Compromise, making principle of 
squatter sovereignty paramount. First fruit was Kan- 
sas struggle, ending in Free Soil victory. ** More im- 
portant still was reshaping of party life. The multi- 
tudinous confusion which made bedlam of the House 
in December, 1855, within a year gave way to clearly 
drawn conclusions between Democrats, predominantly 
Southern and pro-slavery, and a fusion party presently 
taking name Republican, as pro-freedom as the Free 
Soiler, as popular in its impulses as the Democrat, 
pugnacious as the Abolitionist, national as the Whig or 

50 



368 THK UNITED STATES. 

his political ancestor, the Federalist. Henceforth 
Democrat and Republican are to be the great party 
names. 

Buchanan, 1 857-1861, was carried to office by avail- 
ability.^" A panic scarcely less disastrous than that of 
twenty years before embarrassed his early administra- 
tion. Agitation bitter and prolonged was awakened 
by the Dred Scott decision, ^^ recording judicial triumph 
of slavery. The Lincoln-Douglas debate in the sena- 
torial campaign of Illinois defined national issues afresh 
and showed Republicanism its future leader. The mad 
enthusiasm of John Brown and his execution awakened 
passion North and South. Unwise things were said 
and done, exasperation deepening into resentment in 
both sections. 

^ Closing the Oregon Question. 54° 40^ had been claimed by 
the United States, 42° by England. The question of right turned 
upon somewhat shadowy claims on both sides, supposed former 
Russian occupancy north, and supposed former Spanish occu- 
pancy south weighing largely. The Democratic slogan, ' * Fifty- 
four Forty or Fight," boded war. Better counsels prevailed, 
however, and by mutual concession the line was fixed at 49°. 
The Webster-Ashburton agreement of 1842 and the Oregon set- 
tlement of 1846 completed the northern boundary from Atlantic 
to Pacific. 

■■^It nmkes a difference even with a righteous people like the 
Americans whether they are dealing with a strong or a weak 
opponent. The English trouble was settled by compromise. The 
Mexican trouble could be settled only b}^ conquest. This was 
the more ungracious since the United States had readily agreed 
to a western boundary to the Louisiana territory which excluded 
Texas. 

^In 1821 the Mexican possessions of Spain revolted and set 
up a federal republic. One member of this organization was 
the compound state of Coahuila and Texas. There was a ques- 
tion whether the secession of Texas carried away from Mexico 
Coahuila also. Mexico said emphatically no. According to 



THE UNITED STATES. 369 

this the limit of Texas was Nueces River. Texas' claim, hith- 
erto unenforced, set boundary at Rio Grande. Of course, the 
question had to be settled, for it now concerned, not two states 
alone, but two nations. President Polk decided that Rio Grande 
was the line and, without waiting for Mexico to change her 
mind, occupied the disputed section with Federal troops, push- 
ing them clear to the river. A Mexican force crossed the river 
and bloodshed followed. Polk thereupon announced to Con- 
gress, " Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States 
and shed American blood upon American soil. War exists, and 
exists by the act of Mexico herself." This was asvsuming the 
whole question at issue — poor logic and poorer principle, but it 
was good politics, and the country followed the President. 

* Texas came in with slavery. What about other acquisition 
from Mexico? While Congress was debating a bill appropriat- 
ing ten million dollars to purchase territory from Mexico, Wil- 
mot of Pennsylvania offered an amendment August 8, 1846, 
since called by his name, which, following the Northwest Ordi- 
nance of 1787, provided ** that as an express and fundamental 
condition to the acquisition of any territory from the Republic 
of Mexico by the United States by virtue of au}-^ treat}- which 
may be negotiated between them, and to the use by the Exec- 
utive of the moneys herein appropriated, neither slavery nor 
involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of said terri- 
tory, except for crime, whereof the party shall first be duly con- 
victed." The amendment failed, but marked an important 
development of sentiment for and against slavery. 

^ The Omnibus Bill, so named because of the number of its 
provisions. Of these the main were : i. California to be ad- 
mitted as free state. 2. Texas to be paid for relinquishment 
of claim to New Mexico. 3. Question of slavery to be let alone 
in balance of Mexican cession — virtual squatter sovereignty. 
4. Slave trade to be abolished in District of Columbia, though 
slaver}' w^as to be continued there. 5. A fugitive slave law more 
stringent than preceding, making arrest of runaways a Federal 
duty. 

« 1853. "^^^ United States paid |to,ooD,ooo for disputed terri- 
tory south of Gila River, averting war with Mexico and adding 
45,000 square miles to the national domain. 

^An incident of the eternal Cuban question. In 1854 the 
American ministers to England, France, and Spain met at 



370 THE UNITED STATES. 

Ostend in conference. The outcome was a dispatch to the Sec- 
retary of State urging that Cuba in Spanish hands was a menace 
to our peace and advising its purchase ; if Spain would not sell, 
then its appropriation by force. 

* Divided territor}'^ of Nebraska, calling southern portion Kan- 
sas, and left question of slavery to the people themselves. Here 
was Clay's Compromise of 1850 extended beyond Mexican 
cession. 

'Free-soil emigration poured in, particularly from New En- 
gland, presently oiitnumbering corresponding movement form 
South, and, most of all, Missouri. 

^" Absence from the country as Minister to England saved 
him from public record on territorial issue, while his part in 
the Ostend Circular made him dear to the Democracy. 

^^ Dred Scott was a Missouri negro, carried by his master in 
course of official service as army surgeon to Illinois, to the North- 
west, then back to Missouri. The negro brought suit for liberty 
on ground that residence in free territory had made him a free 
man. The lower court decided in favor of the negro. The 
Supreme Court, speaking by Chief Justice Taney, reversed this 
decision, declaring the slave not a person in eye of law, 4jut a 
thing, and therefore without standing in court. Going beyond 
the question of jurisdiction, the court proceeded to declare the 
Missouri Compromise unconstitutional in its prohibition of 
slavery north of 36° 30'', and the slave-holder entitled to carry 
his slaves whithersoever he listed, like any other movable 
property. 



SEC. 13. SI.AVERY A NATIONAL INSTITUTION. 

Compromise had effected delay, not cure. Tacit 
agreement to leave some issues to future made Consti- 
tution possible. Slavery was one of the unsettled issues. 
The first compromise stipulated that the institution be 
left wholly untouched for twenty years. ^ The Missouri 
Compromise run a line along which it might be extended. 
The Compromise of 1850 opened bulk of Mexican ces- 
sion, if favored by local sentiment. The Kansas-Ne- 



THE UNITKD STATES. 37 1 

braska Act of 1854 extended same principle to free half 
of Louisiana Purchase. The test case of 1857 pro- 
claimed the slave a chattel, not a person. Here are three 
stages: i. Missouri Compromise declaring certain terri- 
tory inviolable. 2. Doctrine of squatter sovereignty, 
leaving question to majorities, even in those territories, 

3. Dred Scott decision, giving whole ground to slave- 
owner,^ with entire Federal power pledged to his sup- 
port. How such enormous increase of power could 
come to an institution indefensible in the abstract and 
repugnant to vast majority of population makes inter- 
esting problem. Partial solution appears in : i. Agri- 
culturat bent of South, admitting slave labor. '^ 2. Es- 
pecially in reference to cotton. 3. Property interest. 

4. Habit of domination, not strictly confined to deal- 
ings with blacks. 5. Political solidarity. 6. Neces- 
sity for extension as offset to wasteful production. 7. 
Pride of power. 8. Loyalty to tradition. 9. Opposi- 
tion to attack upon cherished institution.* 10. Divided 
interests, divided counsels, and mistaken concessions 
of opponents.^ At any rate, by judgment of highest 
judicial tribunal a man might take his property any- 
where, whether slaves, plate, horses, or dogs, and in 
the shadow of Faneuil Hall, under the dome of the Cap- 
itol, and among the cane-brakes of Louisiana feel equally 
secure, because of the sacred guarantees of the Consti- 
tution. Rather, fugitive slave laws guarded human 
chattels more closely than other property. . Thus, at a 
moment when more persons than ever before in the na- 
tion were opposed to slavery, the deliverances of the 
Supreme Court decreed checks upon slavery unconsti- 
tutional, whether in state or territory, and at the same 
time made the Federal Government responsible for ex- 
ecution of slavery's behests. 



372 THE UNITED STATES. 

^ ** The migration or importation of such persons as an}^ of the 
states now existing shall think proper to admit shall not be 
prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight 
hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such 
importation not exceeding ten dollars for each person." Con- 
stitution, Art. I, Sec. IX, i. 

^ Slavery established anywhere a slave-owner chose to settle 
with his " goods." 

'The moral sentiment of the North was mightily quickened 
by unprofitableness of slavery under Northern conditions of in- 
dustry. It was economically ruinous even to the South in the 
long run, but that was not at once apparent. Cotton could be 
handled by slave labor, and it is noticeable that the institution 
gained great impetus from such inventions as the cotton-gin. 
King Cotton and the slave fitted each other. 

* Herein lies secret of much Southern bitterness. Intemper- 
ate, sometimes unchristian, utterances were indulged in North, 
reflecting upon both intelligence and morality of South. In- 
tense feeling took these up, justified, as they certainly were in 
individual cases, as if they were intended against the entire 
South, and in turn misinterpreted the heated speech of the abo- 
litionist as the deliberate judgment of the entire North. 

° Nothing is more confusing than the counter-claims of con- 
cession North and South. The friends of freedom complained 
that they yielded at every point only to find the encroachments 
of slavery made more bold thereby. On the other hand, one 
reads with a shock of surprise in a reputable histor}-, published 
by a Southern author within five years, that slavedom was the 
aggrieved, oppressed party throughout, its concessions multi- 
plied to no purpose, until heroic measures became a necessity 
of self-defense. 



SEC. 14. PROTEST AND APPEAL TO PAST. 

By one of the fine ironies of history slavery found its 
Nemesis in the very principle by which it sought appro- 
priation of territory long safe-guarded as free. Squatter 
sovereignty undid the Missouri Compromise. Squatter 
sovereignty split the Democratic party.' Meanwhile 



THK UNITED STATES. 373 

anti-slaver}^ reaction had consolidated a score of organ- 
izations opposing slaver}^ hopelessly apart. Against 
the new order a divided Democracy was helpless.'- To 
the Southerner Republican victory meant the doom of 
slavery,^ A South without slavery the Southerner 
could not or would not conceive. But there could be a 
South without the Union. The theory of States' Rights 
had never been forgotten. To coerce a state was wholly 
undemocratic, Jackson to the contrary notwithstanding. 
That contracting states lost right of withdrawal was 
scarcely believed, not at all talked about, when the 
Constitution was inaugurated. But the Union of 1861 
was not the Union of 1789. A national consciousness 
had been developed in which there was no place for the 
idea of parts going and coming at will. To the South 
withdrawal was no more than final protest against un- 
remedied wrong, the right, under certain conditions the 
duty, of any state. To the national spirit withdrawal 
meant dissolution, only another word for death. The 
South in 1861 was nearer the point of view of 1789 than 
the rest of the countr}^ had been within a half centur3^* 
The problem was double : i . In matter of slavery the 
South must either assimilate the balance of the country 
or be assimilated to it.^ 2. In matter of political con- 
sciousness the South must call back the national spirit 
or gird itself up to overtake that spirit. In the issue as 
now joined slavery and States' Rights were fated to rise 
or fall together. Regarding Lincoln's election as the 
doom of slavery within the Union, eleven states, led by 
South Carolina, withdrew*' and formed the Confederate 
States of America." For the South the days of i78i-'89 
had come again. 

^ About ever3-thing else that had Northern and Southern ex- 
tension had alread}^ spUt. The regular Southern Democracy 



374 '^HK UNITED vSTAl^ES. 

stood by the Dred Scott decision. Douglas had committed 
himself too strongly to squatter sovereignty to withdraw. The 
result was separate presidential tickets. 

'•* The situation was peculiar and most interesting. There were 
four parties in the field: i. The Constitutional Union, declar- 
ing for "The Constitution, Union, and Enforcement of the 
Laws," whatever such a platform might mean. 2. The Repub- 
lican, pledged to exclude slaverj^ from the Territories. 3. The 
Southern Democratic, pledged to carry slavery into the Terri- 
tories. 4. The Douglas Democratic, committed to squatter 
sovereignty. 

^Ivife la}' only in possibility of extension. New land was 
needed, as old land was becoming used up. New states were 
needed to balance Freedom's gains in Senate. Limitation of 
slavery to present area meant constantly increasing dispropor- 
tion of free white strength in nation, with corresponding dis- 
advantage to South — economically, morally, politically. 

* '' Constitutions are not mere legal documents ; the}' are the 
skeleton frame of a living organism ; and in this case the course 
of events had nationalized the government once deemed con- 
federate. * * * These are not lawyer's facts ; they are histo- 
rian's facts. They have no bearing on the legal intent of the 
Constitution as a document, to be interpreted by the intention 
of its framers ; but they have everything to do with the Consti- 
tution as a vehicle of life. The South had not changed her ideas 
from the first, because she had not changed her condition. She 
had stood still while the rest of the country had undergone pro- 
found changes ; and, standing still, she retained the old prin- 
ciples which had once been universal." Woodrow Wilson : 
Division and Reunion. 

^ Lincoln saw this and forecast the future with wonderful clear- 
ness. "A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe 
this government cannot eudure permanently half slave and half 
free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved ; I do not ex- 
pect the house to fall ; but I do expect that it will cease to be 
divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. Either 
the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and 
place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is 
in course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it 
forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the states, old as 
well as new, North as well as South." It was written in the 



THE UNITED STATES. 375 

book of fate that Lincoln should himself bear an important part 
in the determination of the issue. 

^ The process of Secession took a little time. South Carolina's 
Ordinance was passed December 20, i860. Six weeks later 
Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas 
were in line. By the middle of 1861 the list was completed b}' 
addition of Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee. 

' " We, the people of the Confederate States, each state acting 
in its sovereign and independent character, in order to form a 
permanent federal government, establish justice, insure domestic 
tranquillit}', and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and 
our posterity — invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty 
God — do ordain and establish this constitution for the Confed- 
erate States of America." Preamble. The general form of con- 
stitution is that of the Constitution of the United States, but 
two fundamental principles not recognized in the national docu- 
ment are clearly enunciated— States' Rights and Slavery. 



SEC. 15. CIVIL WAR. 

Buchanan had argued against the constitutionality 
of secession, at the same time admitting that there was 
no constitutional help for it. Lincoln argued against 
it, and stated his determination to find help for it. 
Heaven aided him with calmness and firmness, and 
South Carolina did the rest.' Secession on behalf of a 
cherished institution might be endured. Firing on the 
flag w^as quite another thing. Henceforth the Confed- 
erac}^ represented, not slaver}^ but disloyalty; not 
States' Rights, but rebellion. The man for the hour 
was there. Never losing faith, never wavering, never 
exulting, Lincoln called for men, more men, and more 
men still. ' Four such years as the world had never 
seen interpreted the Constitution in the light of three- 
quarters of a centur}^ of progress, declaring the United 
States a nation, not an alHance; its motto, Liberty and 
Union. 
51 



376 THE UNITED STATES. 

The South was better prepared than the North for 
beginning war. Spirit and skill and material were 
read3\ The North was better prepared than the South 
for continuing war. But its resources had to be made 
ready. The first year was mainly spent by both sides 
in discovering each that the other was in earnest.'' 
What success there was belonged to the Confederates. 
By the beginning of 1862 the Union forces were under 
way. Thenceforward three general lines of operation 
were followed to the end of the war: i. To gain com- 
mand of the Mississippi, winning mighty waterway and 
isolating Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. By middle 
of 1863 this was accomplished, through capture of New 
Orleans by Farragut, Island No. 10 by Pope, Donelson, 
Shiloh, and Vicksburg by Grant. 2. To push from 
Tennessee, through heart of Confederacy, to Mobile, 
Savannah, or Charleston, cleaving revolt a second time 
and destroying communication between East and West.* 
Great name here is Sherman, who followed Grant's 
brilliant relief of Chattanooga^ by practically unbroken 
campaign to end of war, best described as Sherman's 
March to the Sea, at Savannah, with Atlanta taken on 
the way. 3. To blockade the coast and destroy the 
armies, driven back in ever-narrowing circles, about 
Richmond. This main end accomplished against su- 
perb generalship of Johnston, Beauregard, Jackson, 
and, most of all, Lee in long struggle by McDowell, 
McClellan, Pope, Burnside, Hooker, Meade, and, fi- 
nally, Grant. Lee surrendered at Appomattox April 
9, 1865.^ The war was over." 

^ While Congress was debating ways and means of further 
concession the South proceeded to gather in all military stores 
within their respective borders. Fortress Monroe, Fort Sumter, 
Fort Pickens, and the fortifications near Key West alone re- 



THK UNITED STATES. 377 

mained to the Federal Govenimeut. Promised succor to Fort 
Sumter was made the occasion for opening hostilities. The 
first shot was fired April 12, 1861. Two days later the fort sur- 
rendered. It was not much of an engagement, but it had tre- 
mendous results, for it smote Federal lethargy and awoke the 
nation. 

^In all, 2,942,748 men served in the Union army during the 
war, the largest number at one time being a round million, in 
May, 1865. Against these the Confederacy raised between a 
million and a quarter and a million and a half, high-water mark 
being reached with 690,000, at the beginning of 1863. Grant's 
policy, pushed relentlessly, was to wear out the armies of the 
Confederacy, which he knew could not be replaced. Except 
in a few instances, like the draft riot in New York, personal 
loyalty, liberal bounties, and the draft kept the Union armies 
full. 

^ The disillusiouments of that year make a chapter at once 
painful and pathetic. The call for volunteers, North and South, 
met enthusiastic response. To most the task was no more se- 
rious than the yearl}' militia drill, with a sham fight at the end. 
" Regiments went blithely forth, oftentimes with gay pomp and 
laughter, as if to holiday parade, little dreaming how awful a 
struggle was about to begin." The South thought the North 
did not know, and could not learn, how to fight. ' The North 
expected to have the matter all settled within a few weeks. A 
family quarrel is always more intense than one among strangers. 
Kach side learned, along with the discovery that the other side 
meant fight, that the family skeleton was of quite unusual size, 
which, once exposed, engaged the family honor on both sides 
to fight to the bitter end. 

* Chattanooga and other Tennessee points commanded the 
lines of railway that bound eastern and western parts of Con- 
federacy together. Their control by the Union greatly nar- 
rowed and hampered Confederate movement. 

^Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain, November 23-25, 
1863, belong here. 

^This virtually ended struggle. Johnston, slowly pushed 
•northward by Sherman moving from Savannah, surrendered at 
Raleigh, N. C, April 26. Scattered ineffective groups, still 
under arms South and West, took nearly a month longer to lay 



378 THE UNITED STATES. 

down arms, but by end of May all had been accomplished and 
the Union armies were disbanded without delay. 

' A summary by years would show the following general re- 
sults ; 

1861. Hostilities opened by attack on Sumter. Union defeat 

at Bull Run and Wilson's Creek. Union occupation 
of large doubtful territory, drawing Confederate 
lines greatly within Confederacy's expected limits. 
Blockade begun. 

1862. Ravage of Merrimac cut short by Monitor in March. 

In the East, the indecisive Seven Days' Battles, 
Antietam, a Union victory, and Fredericksburg, a 
Union defeat. In the West, Donelson, Pittsburg 
Landing, New Orleans, and Murfreesboro, all Union 
gain. 

1863. The Emancipation Proclamation. Chancellorsville 

recording disastrous defeat and Gettysburg record- 
ing inestimable victory for Union in East. Vicks- 
burg, opening the Mississippi, Chickamauga, Union 
defeat, redeemed two months later by Union victory 
at Lookout oMountain and Missionary Ridge. 

1864. The Hammering Campaign, Grant, Conmiander-in- 

Chief, fighting toward Richmond ; Sherman, ably 
• seconding him, pushing to the sea. Principal 
names, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, 
Petersburg, results generally favorable to Union ; 
Kenesaw Mountain, Mobile, Atlanta, destroying 
Confederacy's workshop, Nashville, Thomas cut- 
ting Hood to pieces. Savannah, Sherman's Christ- 
mas present to nation. Year memorable, also, for 
destruction of the Alabama and for counter-raids of 
Early and Sheridan. Confederacy was now reduced 
to Virginia and the Carolinas. 

1865. Capture qi Richmond, collapse of Confederate Gov- 

ernment, Goldsboro, general surrender. 

SEC. 16. RECONSTRUCTION. 

Failure stamped .secession as rebellion, not revolution. 
The Confederacy lapsed, as a matter of course. What 



THE UNITED STATES. 379 

was the status of its constituents ? Severalanswers were 
given: i. Rebellion had destroyed statehood, leaving 
secession domain with no more rights than conquered 
land. 2. Substitute in i territory for "conquered land." 
But under i and 2 what was meaning of an "inde- 
structible Union of indestructible states f " 3. Secession 
had broken continuity of government, but the states 
remained, to receive full recognition again as fast as re- 
turn to obedience and adequate guarantees for the future 
made reconstitution of government possible. This 
Lincoln's view,^ inherited by Johnson. 4. Same in 
form as 3, but differing in two vital particulars: (i) 
Congress, instead of President, was to decide conditions 
and fulfillment. (2) Instead of going back to voting 
list of i860— white citizens exclusively — present loyal 
male population, black as well as white, were summoned 
to conventions for framing constitutions, on approval of 
which Congress might declare reinstatement. This 
the Congressional programme, so summed up in Recon- 
struction Act of 1867,' was carried through under mili- 
tary rule. No prophet's eye was needed to foresee the 
result — Negro domination,'' carpet-bagging, excessive 
taxation, criminal waste, debt, worst of all, fresh open- 
ing of Southern wounds.* It was a bitter, weary pro- 
cess, needing four years for completion. January 30, 
187 1, all the states were once more represented in Con- 
gress, but half a decade more passed before the reestab- 
lishment of normal conditions in the states. 

1 Reorganization had gone far under this view in Arkansas, 
Louisiana, and Tennessee, the last named readmitted to Union 
in 1866. 

2 Excepting Tennessee, Southern States were organized into 
five miHtary districts. Generals of the army, named by Presi- 
dent, were to conduct process of reconstruction. General con- 
ditions were as follows : i. All male citizens of one year's resi- 



380 THE UNITED STATES. 

deuce were to be enrolled as voters, barring exceptions of 
disqualification by reason of felony or exclusion under XlVth 
Amendment. 2, In each state election should be made of dele- 
gates to a state convention, before-mentioned voters alone being 
allowed to vote or be voted for. 3. These conventions were to 
frame constitutions insuring franchise to all classes permitted to 
vote for delegates to the conventions. 4. Constitutions so made 
were to be ratified by body of voters. 5. So ratified, constitu- 
tions were to be submitted to Congress. 6. If approved, the 
constitutions would entitle states to representation, provided 
legislatures adopted XlVth Amendment. 

^XlVth Amendment, among other provisions, .declared all 
persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject 
to tlie jurisdiction thereof citizens of the United States and of 
the state wherein they abide, forbade abridgment of voting 
rights, except for "participation in rebellion or other crime," to 
male inhabitants twenty-one years of age, and decreed that " no 
person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or 
elector of President or Vice-President, or hold any office, civil 
or military, under the United States or under any state, who 
having previously taken an oath as a Member of Congress or as 
an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legis- 
lature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to sup- 
port the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged 
in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid and 
comfort to the enemies thereof."' The effect of this was to dis- 
qualify for office every prominent white Southerner and to place 
the ballot in every black hand. So it came about that from 
slavery, denounced as "barbarism," the negro was advanced, 
without a moment's preparation, to the rights and duties of cit- 
izenship, only to prove by his utter political incapacity that it 
takes something more than emancipation proclamations and 
amendments to make statesmen. 

*As so often, major part of trouble came from misunder- 
standing. A class, really a race, unpracticed in liberty, without 
social and industrial balance, and without domestic restraints, 
had been suddenly called to face conditions wholly new and 
strange. To the Southerner stringent regulations seemed only 
the part of prudence. To the Northerner proposed regulation 
seemed deliberate violation of rights of negro. This is North's 
vindication for further humiliation of South. 



THE UNITED STATES. 381 



SEC. 17. A QUARTER CENTURY OF REPUBLICANISM. 

The Civil War was fought and the Union saved under 
RepubUcan leadership. The great Lincoln was a tower 
of strength. His untimely death enshrined him in the 
popular devotion, giving him place with Washington. 
The story of Lincoln's official life is the story of the 
war and of the beginning of restoration.^ Johnson was 
Lincoln's legatee in reconstruction policy, but opinion- 
ated and tactless. Open clash with Congress resulted 
in trial, which fell only one vote short of impeachment. 
A political refugee, out of touch with the party that 
elected him,'' Johnson was an impossible candidate for 
the succession. The man who bulked largest in war 
achievement was Grant, whose election was a foregone 
conclusion. He served two terms, 1869-1877, the first 
more successful than the second.^ His administration 
memorable for : i. Completion of Reconstruction. 2. 
Joining Atlantic and Pacific by transcontinental rail- 
way. 3. Beginning of Civil Service reform.* 4. The 
Alabama award. ° 5. The Centennial Exposition. 
Hayes, 1 877-1 881, was inducted into office amid the 
excitement of a disputed election,*' and during his term 
lacked strong party support. The country, however, 
enjoyed general prosperity. Principal events were: i. 
Industrial disturbances of 1877. 2. Financial legisla- 
tion, including remonetization of silver, resumption of 
specie payments, and refunding of debt. 3. Various in- 
ternal improv^ements, most valuable the raising of New 
Orleans' embargo of mud. ^ Garfield and Arthur, 1881- 
1885, saw demand for Civil Service reform renewed and 
emphasized by deplorable death of former. The most 
noteworthy feature of the period was development of 
South. 



382 'The: united states. 

^ Many a time afterward the country sighed for even an hour 
of the one man who seemed large enough to understand the 
entire problem. Among the most treasured words of the great 
chief, more precious with every passing year, is the utterance 
of the second Inaugural, uttered before peace came, but when 
peace could be foreseen, with the hard problems beyond : 
" With malice toward none ; with charity for all ; with firmness 
in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to 
finish the work we are in ; to bind up the nation's wounds; to 
care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow 
and his orphan — to do all which ma}^ achieve and cherish a 
lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." 

■-^A Union man, but a Southern Democrat, in sympathy with 
his compatriots in all but secession. His outspoken opposition 
to secession gave him favorable standing North and made him 
Lincoln's Vice-President. Difference of judgment with Re- 
publican Congress at once awakened suspicion, which Johnson 
was ill-fitted and little disposed to allay. Suspicion passed into 
mutual recrimination, the President frank to the point of coarse- 
ness in denunciation of his opponents. 

^ Was not happy in appointments. Grave malfeasance in 
office was practiced by prominent officials. Grant himself ad- 
mitted sadly that he had l)een misled by political advisers* 
Demoralization well describes the character of the second term, 
the President largely the tool of politicians. 

^Already, in 1867, a bill had been proposed looking to re- 
form of the civil service. The death of the framer prevented 
the bill from getting results. In 1871 Grant appointed a com- 
mission composed of able friends of the movement. The poli- 
ticians, however, did not take kindly to the movement, and in 
1874 Congress quashed it by cutting off the necessary appropri- 
ation. Civil-service reform has seen better days since then. 

'Against England giving the United States $15,000,000 dam- 
ages in the claims growing out of havoc wrought by Confeder. 
ate destroyer, the crniser Alabama. 

^The Hayes-Tilden controversy. Undisputed electoral votes 
stood 184 for Tilden and Hendricks, 172 for Ha3'es and Wheeler. 
Disputed votes were: Florida, 4; Louisiana, 8; Oregon, i. An 
Electoral Commission — five Representatives, five Senators, five 
Supreme Justices —gave all 13 disputed votes to the Republican 
nominees, who were accordingly declared elected — 185 to 184 



THK UNITED STATKS. 383 

The popular vote stood 4,284,757 Democratic, 4,033,950 Repub- 
lican. 

' Detritus carried dowu by Mississippi had blocked mouth of 
stream to such extent that large vessels passed only with great 
difficulty. Captain Eads cut the bar, narrowing and deepening 
the channel, and the current proved strong enough to keep the 
passage clear. 

SEC. 18. EEADING BY TURNS. 

For a decade party strength had been evenly matched. 
Serious Republican defection ' now assured Democratic 
return to office. The strong personality of Cleveland 
filled the years 1885-1889. Social and industrial dis- 
turbances and regulation of interstate commerce, Chi- 
nese immigration, elections, and presidential succession 
make up the record of the term. Harrison, 1 889-1 893, 
led in Republican triumph once more. The navy was 
increased. The pension rolls were lengthened. Tariff 
and coinage revision were instituted. Cleveland and 
the Democrats followed, 1893-1897. Our country en- 
tertained the world at the Columbian Exposition-. Hard 
times followed. I^ong- standing disputes over seal hunt- 
ing and the Venezuela boundary '"' were settled without 
bloodshed, though not without friction. The Coxey in- 
vasion ' was successfully resisted. The Hawaiian ques- 
tion became painfully prominent.' Money, tariff, and 
the civil service were under continuous agitation. The 
close of his second term found Cleveland the official 
head and the ablest statesman of a party which had 
practically disowned his leadership. McKinley, 1897-, 
was elected on a platform of sound money, sound public 
service, sound personal character, after a campaign un- 
matched in dramatic features^ since the days of Tippe- 
canoe. His administration has increasingly justified 
52 



384 THE UNITED STATES. 

public expectation. He has met unusually difficult 
situations with firmness and skill. His course in the 
entanglement with Spain earned the approval it has re- 
ceived. He has felt the public touch as no President 
has since Lincoln. Most vital of all for the future, he 
has given voice to the national spirit.^ 

^ Even the magnetism of Blaine could not stem the tide of 
tariff reform, civil service, general Mugwump, and anti-corrup- 
tion sentiment. Scandals as old as Grant's time were raked up, 
among others, the Credit Mobilier affair. The final stroke was 
given by a good Republican, whose ill-chosen words of eulogy 
of the Republican candidate alienated important voting strength 
in New York on the eve of election — too late to correct the 
blunder. As it turned out, New York was the determining 
factor in the contest, Democrats commanding 183, Republicans 
182 electoral votes outside that state. In New York the contest 
was so close that for two days the issue was in doubt. Then 
the official count showed the state Democratic by a narrow mar- 
gin. The popular vote as between the two great parties .showed 
the surprisingly small majority of less than 63,000 for the Dem- 
ocrats in a-total vote of nearly ten million. 

^A fine burst of national enthusiasm met the President's 
straightforward, perhaps brusque, interrogation of England on 
the subject. A Commission to determine "the true divisional 
line between the Republic of Venezuela and British Guiana " was 
appointed. Happily the diplomatic difficulties were smoothed 
away, and while the Commissioners were at work an agreement 
was reached satisfactory to all concerned. 

^The hosts of trampdom, industrial malcontent, and general 
disgruntlement formed an "army " to compel the attention of 
Congress to the grievances of the poor. The movement looked 
formidable, for five thousand hungry men easily undertake des- 
perate projects. Partly from fear, partly from sympathy, partly 
from a sense of humor, the sections through which the " army " 
marched gave them food and varied encouragement. Great 
things were prophesied against their arrival in Washington, but 
a few policemen easily handled the movement on its arrival 
and the army melted away. 



THE UNITED STATES. 385 

*The Harrison administration was engaged about the annex- 
ation of Hawaii when it closed. Cleveland withdrew the treaty 
already before the Senate and entered into relations with the 
Hawaiian government which caused great anxiety to the friends 
of liberty there and here. The outcome, however, was the Re- 
public of Hawaii recognized by our government as " free, sov- 
ereign and independent." 

^ Due to the tireless and picturesque canvass of the Democratic 
candidate, William J. Bryan, who represented at once the regu- 
lar Democrac}^ Free Silver, and Populism. 

^The South has received him with as great enthusiasm as the 
North. His reference to the Confederate dead touched the 
Southern heart. December 14, 1898, the President proposed 
at Atlanta that henceforth the National Government care for 
Confederate cemeteries as it did for Federal. The suggestion 
was approved warmly at the North. Little but good feeling 
has come of it as 5'et, but it is of value as showing the oblitera- 
tion of sectional lines. The Spanish war saw the removal of 
the last disability oh account of the civil war, and American 
officers and men fought the battles of the nation with never a 
question asked as to whence any came. Sections have vanished. 
It has been Mr. McKinley's happy fortune to be a leader of the 
new order. 



SEC 19. COLONIAL EXPANSION. 

The present administration inherited a Hawaiian and 
a Cuban question. Both questions have opened upon 
larger issues than were foreseen. Particularly is this 
true of the latter. The story of Spanish domitiion and 
decay lies back of it, as does also Spain's policy of co- 
lonial exploitation. Our immediate interest goes only 
to the spring of 1895, when new effort was made to 
throw off the Spanish yoke. The Cubans failed to win 
independence and Spain failed to quell the insurrection. 
Bloodshed, famine, and pestilence were ruining the 
island. Our government first protested against the con- 
tinuance of such conditions, and then demanded that 



386 THE UNITED STATES. 

they be stopped. The destruction of the Maine in- 
creased American interest. April 19, 1898, Cuban inde- 
pendence was recognized. This meant war with Spain. 
The war did not last long. Manila and Santiago ^ prac- 
tically determined the issue. August 12, 1898, the 
draft of a treaty of peace was signed, afterward com- 
pleted, Spain renouncing all claim to Cuba, ceding Porto 
Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States. 
Five weeks before Hawaii had been annexed in accord- 
ance with its own desire.'^ Thus within four months 
the United States acquired 125,000 square miles of 
colonial territory, with a population of 11,000,000, to 
say nothing of the protectorate of Cuba. The hardest 
constitutional problems since reconstruction are in- 
volved in the organization of this territor5^ It is far 
from clear whether breaking continental boundaries will 
mean good or ill to the nation, but present dut}' is clear. 
In the allotment of the world's work the task has been 
assigned us of making these sections politically habit- 
able. The principle of development is unmistakable, 
running straight from the Declaration of Independence 
to the remotest Filipino, independence in proportion to 
self-control, liberty under law. 

1 Manila, May i, 1898, destroyed Spain's entire Pacific squad- 
ron without the loss of a man. The victory gave the Americans 
command of the city of Manila, which, however, was not act- 
ually occupied until August 18. Santiago, July 3, 1898, destroyed 
Spain's Atlantic squadron with the loss of a single man. The 
army meanwhile had not been idle, and within a few days 
Santiago was surrendered. 

■^The battle of Manila changed the entire situation in regard 
to Hawaii. Experts in naval geography urged its acquisition 
as a base of operations in the Pacific. Union was consummated 
July 7, 1898, and Hawaii is now United States territory. 



BiBtlOGRAPHIKS. 



The bibliographies to tlie first tliirteen chapters were pre- 
pared by colleagues as named, a service which has been of the 
utmost value and which is gratefully acknowledged. Attention 
is asked to the fact that the bibliographies primarily contem- 
plate the needs of students in professional courses. 



Bibliography to Chapter L 

Prepared by Prof. Edward B. Pot.lard, Ph. D., 
of The Colum])ian University. 

KGYPT. 

Brugsch : History of Egypt under the Pharaohs. 2 vols. 1881. 

Rawlinson, G, : History of Ancient Egypt. 2 vols. 1881. 

Kendrick.Johji : Ancient Egypt under the Pharaohs. 2 vols 
1883. 

Maspero, G. : Ancient Egyi)t and Assyria. D. Appleton. 1895. 

Bilnsen, Ch. C.J : Egypt's Place in Universal History. En- 
glish translation, 5 vols. 

Wilkinson, Sir J. G. : Manners and Customs of the Ancient 
Egyptians. London. 3 vols. 1878. 

Meyer, Ed. : Geschichte Aegyptens. 

Petrie : History of Egypt, to end of XVIIIth Dynasty. 2 vols. 

CHAI^DKA. 

RawlinsoJi's Great Ancient Monarchies. American reprint. 

188 r. Vol. I. 
Lenormaiit 2iX\d. Chevallier: Ancient History of the East. 2 vols. 
Schrader: Sammlung von Assyrischeu und Babylonishcen 
Texten, for many valuable sources. 
(See further list under Babylonia and Assyria.) 

53 {i^l) 



388 BIBLIOGRAPHIES. 



ASSYRIA. 

7^?>/^.- Babylonische-Assyrische Geschichte. 2 vols. 1888. 

Smith, George: Assyrian Discoveries. 1875. 

Sayce : Ancient Empires of the East. 

Sayce : Babylonians and Assyrians. 

Rawlinson , G. : Five Great Ancient Monarchies. Vol. I. 

Delitzsch and Haiipt : Assyriologische Bibliothek. Leipzig, 

since 188 1. 
Maspero, G. : Life in Ancient Egypt and Assyria. Appleton. 

1895. 



Rawlinson's Herodotus. Vol. I. Appendix. Essay IX. 
Raiulinson'' s Five Great Ancient Monarchies. Vol. 11. 
Lenorniant : Ancient History of the East. Vol. II. 
Ragozin : Story of Media, Babylonia, and Persia. 
(See also list under Persia.) 

BABYLONIA. 

Budge : Babylonian Life and History. 
Loftus : Nineveh and Babylon. 
Sayce : Babylonians and Ass3-rians. 

Rawlinson , G. : Great Ancient Monarchies. Vol. II. 
(See also list under Ass^-ria.) 

PERSIA. 

JMalcohn, Sir John : History of Persia. 2 vols. London, 181 6. 
Dunckel : Geschichte des Alterthunis. English translation. 

London, 1882. 6 vols. 
Raiulinson, G.: Five Great Ancient Monarchies. Vol. III. 
Justi : Geschichte Persiens. Berlin, 1879. 
Lenormant : Ancient History of the East. Vol. II. 
Ragozifi : Storj^ of Media, Babylonia, and Persia. 
Noldeke, Th. : Article Persia, in Encyclopedia Britannica. 

9th edition. 



BIBLIOGRAPHIES. 389 



Bibliography to Chapter II, 

Prepared by Prof. MiTCHELiv Carroll, Ph. D., 
of The Cohmibian University. 

I. HISTORY. 

Thirlwall : History of Greece. 8 vols. 2d edition. 1885. 

Grote : History of Greece. 12 vols. 1870. 

Curtius E. : History of Greece (tr. ). 5 vols. 1868-1872. 

Holm: History of Greece (tr.) 4 vols. 1 886-1894. 

Abbott: History of Greece. 4 vols, 1892-1900. 

Lloyd: Age of Pericles. 1875. 

Graftt : Greece in the Age of Pericles. J893. 

Wheeler : Alexander the Great and Extension of Greek Rule 

and Ideas. 1900. 
Mahaffy : The Greek World under Roman Sway. 1890. 

II. GEOGRAPHY. 

Wordsworth : Greek Pictorial, Historical and Descriptive. 1882. 
Tozer : Lectures on the Geography of Greece. 1874. 
Mahaffy : Rambles and Studies in Greece. 1881. 
Smithy W. : Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. 2 vols. 
1853-1857. 

III. IN GENERAL- 

Pausanias' De.scription of Greece. Translated by J. G Frazer. 

6 vols. 1899. 
G uhl SiWd. Koner : The Life of the Greeks and Romans (tr.). 

1877. 
Greenidge : A Handbook of Greek Constitutional History. 

1896. 
Gardner : New Chapters in Greek History. 1892. 



390 BIBLIOGRAPHIES. 



BibIio§fraphy to Chapter IIL 

Prepared by Prof. Mitchei.1. Carroi.1., Ph. D., 
of The Columbian University. 

I. HISTORY. 

Niebuhr : History of Rome (tr ). 3 vols. 1859. 

Monimsen : History of Rome (tr.). 6 vols. 1877-1887. 

//j;?^ .• History of Rome. 5 vols. 1871-1882. 

Merivale : Histor}^ of the Romans under the Empire. New^ 
edition. 8 vols. 1890, 

Gibbon : Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Good edi- 
tion in 8 vols. 1854-1855. 

Capes: The Early Empire. 6th edition. 18S7. 

How and Leigh : History of Rome to the Death of Caesar. 1898. 

Bury : The Students' History of the Roman Empire. 1893. 

II. GEOGRAPHY. 

Kiepert, H. : Manual of Ancient Geography. 188 r. 

Kiepert, H. : Atlas Antiquus. 

^a<?i^^/^<?r.- Central Italy and Rome. 12th edition. 1897. 

III. IN GENERAIv. 

Lanciani, R. : Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent Discover- 
ies. 1888. 

Lanciani, R.: Ruins and Excavations of Ancient Rome. 1897. 

Dennie : Rome of Today and Yesterday (The Pagan Cit}^). 3d 
edition. 1896. 

Middleton : The Remains of Ancient Rome. 1892. 



BIBLIOGRAPHIES. 391 



BibIio§ffaphy to Chapter IV* 

Prepared by Prof. Charles C. Swisher, Ph. D., 
of The Columbian University. 

For a general survey of the condition of the Roman Empire 
at the commencement of the Barbarian Invasion, consult : 

Montesquieu : Grandeur and Declension of the Roman Empire. 
Goldiuin Smith : The Greatness of Rome. 
Freeman : Chief Periods of European History. 
Merivale : Fall of the Roman Republic. 
Duruy : History of Rome and the Roman People. 
Laurent : Etudes sur I'histoire de I'humanite. 
Gibbon : Chapters I, VII, XVII. 
Mommsen : History of Rome. 
Long : Decline of the Roman Republic. 

Curteis : History of the Roman Empire from the Death of Theo^ 
dosius the Great to the Coronation of Charles the Great. 
Millman : Latin Christianit}'. 

For the political and social institutions existing among the 
Teutonic tribes at the time of the invasion, and, as afterward 
modified by their settlement in Italy, and in the Romanized 
provinces of Spain and Gaul, very brief but excellent outlines 
may be found in Myers, Mediaeval and Modern History ; 
Church, Beginnings of the Middle Ages ; Laurent, volume V : 
a fuller account in Emmerton, Introduction to the Study of 
the Middle Ages, and Shepphard, Fall of Rome and Rise of 
New Nationalities. As a preparation for any study of the period, 
however brief, the student wnll do well to read Kingsley, The 
Roman and the Teuton. 

For a more comprehensive study of the period, the appro- 
priate chapters of Millman and Gibbon may be consulted, in 
addition to— 

Tacitus: Germania, 

Hodgkins : Italy and her Invaders. 

Sohm : Altdeutsche Reichs und Gerechts-Verfassung. 



392 BIBLIOGRAPHIES. 

Arnold : Ansiedelungen und Wanderungen deutscher Stamiiie 

Deutsche Urzeit. 
VoTi Sybel : Entstehung des Deutsches Konigsthum. 
Waitz : Deutsches Verfassungs-geschichte. 
Cotilanges : Institutions Politiques de I'ancienne France. 
Nit2sch : Geschichte des Deutschen Volkes. 
Pallman : Die Geschichte der Volkerwanderung. 
Ross : Early History of Landholding among the Germans. 
Jenks : Laws and Politics of the Middle Ages. 
Stephens : l^ectures on French History. 



BIBUOGRAPHIKS. 393 



BibIio§ffaphy to Chapter V, 

Prepared by Prof. Chari^es C. Swishkr, Ph. D., 
of The Columbian University. 

Many of the authorities cited in chapter IV, as Laurent, Em- 
nierton, Church, Adams, Milhnan, Stephens, Gibbon, Sohm, 
Waitz, Coulanges, carry the reader through the struggle of the 
Empire and the Papacy. A hurried study of the period may be 
made from Emmerton's two volumes. Church's Beginnings, and 
Bryce's Holy Roman Empire; if supplemented for facts and dates 
by such works as Henderson's History of Mediaeval Germany, 
Kitchen, History of France, Menzel, History of Germany, and 
Guizot, Popular History of France, studied in connection with 
a good historical atlas (Keith, Johnston, or Droysen, the best). 
Maitland's fascinating and sympathetic essays upon the Dark 
Ages, and Zeller, Entretiens sur I'histoire du Moyeu Age, will 
be found highly stimulating and helpful in such a course of 
reading. 

For a more extended study of the period, the literature is 
abundant and attractive, alike in English, French, and German: 
for the purely institutional side : Jenks, Laws and Politics of 
the Middle Ages; Lehueron, Institutiones Corolingienses • 
Waitz, volume II-V, Deutsches Verfassungs-geschichte. 

Giesebrecht, Deutschen Kaizerzeit, gives the German and 
Italian history from 919 to 1175; W. C. Perry, the Franks to 
the death of King Pepin ; Prutz, Sataaten-geschichtedes Aben- 
lands im Mittel alter, gives the German side ; Zeller, Histoire 
d'Allemagne, the French. The most recent as well as probably 
the most impartial account of all sides, will be found in the first 
volumes of Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale du IV^ 
Siecle a nos jours. 

For biographical notes and extracts from original sources : 
Henderson, Select Historical Documents of the Middle Ages. 

Historical geography : Himly, Histoire de la formation Ter- 
ritorial des Etats de I'Europe Centrale ; Freeman, Historical 
Geography of Europe. 

From the ecclesiastical side : Alzog, Manual of Church His- 
tory, gives a fairly impartial account. Schaff is the Protestant 



39-]. BIBI.IOCRAPHIES. 

authority. P. S. Blanc, Coiir d'historique Ecclesiastique, the 
radical Catholic. 

For the Norman Kingdom in the South : Johnson, Normans 
in Europe, can be supplemented b^^ Delarc, Les Normands en 
Italiedepuis les premieres invasions jusqu'a I'an 1073, and Gib- 
bon, chapter LVI. 

For Byzantine history : Bury, The Later Eoman Empire ; 
Finla}^ History of Greece, and the appropriate chapters of 
Gibbon. 

For the monastic movements : Montalemberl, Monks of the 
West ; SchafF, Rise and Progress of Monasticisni, give respect- 
ively the Catholic and Protestant sides ; Millman, Latin Chris- 
tianit}^ gives a fairly good account from the Protestant stand- 
point ; Champlay, Histoire L'Abbaye de Cluny, and Newman, 
Lives of English Saints, give much special information. 

Rashdall, Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages ; Hau- 
reau, Historie de la Philosophic Scholastique ; Eicken, Gesch- 
ichte und System Mittelalterlichen Wehanschaung ; Maurice, 
Mediaeval Philosophy from the 5th to the Htli Centur}-, give the 
purely intellectual and scholastic side of the period. 

Among the many excellent monographs and biographies 
may be mentioned Kington, History of Frederick II, Emperor 
of the Romans ; Villeman, Histoire de Gregoire VII ; Gfrorer, 
Papst Gregoire VII, und Sein Leitalter ; Felten, Papst Gre- 
goire IX, Wallon, St. Louis, et Son Temps ; Sabatier, Saint 
Francois d' Assise ; Lacordaire, vie du Saint Dominique ; Hurter, 
Geschichte Papst Innocens III ; Winkelman, Philip von 
Schwabeu und Otto IV. 



BIBLIOGRAPHIKS. 395 



Bibliogfraphy to Chapter VL 

Prepared by Prof. Chari.ES C. Swisher, Ph. D., 
of The Columbian University. 

One of the best outlines of the Feudal System in the language 
is found in chapter VI of Andrews' Institutes of General His- 
tory. Equally good and easier of comprehension for the imma- 
ture student are Emmerton's chapters XV in the Beginnings of 
the Middle Ages and XIV in the History of Mediaeval Europe, 
chapter VII of Laurent's Etudes sur I'histoire de I'humanit^ is 
excellent reading upon the subject, which may be supplemented 
by the appropriate chapters of Maitland; Guizot, History of Civil- 
ization ; Civilization in France; Kitchen, Michelet, and Martin. 

For feudalism as it existed in England : Two papers respect- 
ivel}^ by Henson and Ashley, in Constitutional Essays, published 
by Longmans and Green (New York, 1894), will be found very 
helpful. See also appropriate chapters of Stubbs, Taswell-Lang- 
mead and Hanis Ta3dor, and Freeman. 

The best monograph on feudalism is Secretan, Essai sur la 
Feodalite ; the most elaborate and exhaustive treatment of the 
subject is found in Waitz's monumental work, Deutsche Verfas- 
sungs-geschichte, in eight volumes. If the student is unable to 
find time for the entire work, the seventh volume is invaluable 
for the insight which it affords upon the subjects of feudal jus- 
tice and finance ; and the eighth, for the genesis of the free 
cities from feudal conditions. Jenks' Laws and Politics of the 
Middle ages ; Roth, Geschichte des Beneficialwesens ; Feu- 
dalitat und Unterthanenverbund ; Sohm, Altdeutsche Reichs 
und Gerechtsverfassung, embody much of the latest investiga- 
tion upon the subject, but with strong German bias. Lehueron, 
Institutions Merovingiensis ; do., Carolovingiensis, is from the 
French side. 

Most of the authorities above cited extend through the feudal 
period into that of organized and centralized government. For 
special study of the latter period, however, the student is re- 
ferred to Luchaire, Institutions Monarchiques sous les premieres 
Capetiens ; Louis VI, Annales de sa vie etde son regne ; Etudes 

54 



396 BIBLIOGRAPHIES. 

sur les actes de Louis VII ; Viollet, Histoire des Institutions 
Politiques et Adniinistratives de la France ; Walker, Increase of 
Power under Philip Augustus ; Wallon, St. Louis et Son Temps ; 
Beugnot, Essai sur les Institutions de St. Louis ; Langlois, 
Regne de Phillipe le Hardi; Memoiresde Phillipe de Comniuies ; 
Kirk, Charles the Bold ; Legeay, Histoire Louis XL 

For the corresponding period in England we have Freeman, 
The Norman Conquest ; Stubbs, Constitutional History ; Early 
Plantagenets ; Pearson, History of England during the Early 
and Middle Ages ; Gneist, Geschichte und heutige Gestalt der 
Englishen Kommunal Verfassung. 

For the history of the movement in Spain : Dunham, His- 
tory of Spain and Portugal ; Lembke and Schafer, Geschichte 
von Spaniens ; Romey brings the histor}^ of Spain down to the 
period where Prescott takes it up in "Ferdinand and Isabella." 
Both these works are valuable for the period under considera- 
tion. Rousseuw-Saint-Hilaire, brings out with great promi- 
nence the struggle of the nobles with the sovereigns during 
the period of transition from feudal anarchy to centralized 
government. 



BIBLIOGRAPHIES. 397 



Bibliog-faphy to Chapter VIL 

Prepared by Prof. Hermann Schoenfeld, Pli. D., 
of The Columl)ian University. 

J. A. Symonds : Renaissance in Italy. 3 vols. London, 1877. 

P. Villari : Niccolo Macchiavelli and His Times. 

J.Burckhardt: The Civilization of the Period of the Renaissance. 

L. Geiger : Renaissance nnd Hnnianisnius. Berlin, 1882. 

Georg Voigt [Die Renaissance] : Die Wiederbelebnng des 
Klass. Altertnnis. 2d edition. Berlin, 1880. 

Fr. Dav. Strauss : Ulrich von Hutten. 

Fritsch : Deutsche Renaissance. 

Emile Gebhart : Origines de la Renaissance en Italic. 

Walter Pater: The Renaissance; a series of essays, 3d edi- 
tion. 1888. 

Crowe and Cavalcaselle : Painting in Italy. 9 vols. Wholly 
devoted to Renaissance. 

Charles Perkins : Tuscan Sculptors and Italian Sculptors. 

Mark Pattison : The Renaissance of Art in France. 

In " La Quentin Bibliotheque de I'Enseignenient des Beaux- 
Arts," the volumes on Les Styles Frangais, by Lecheval- 
lier Chevignard, and on L' Architecture de la Renaissance, 
by Leon Palustre. 

L. Palustre : La Renaissance en France. 3 vols. i879-'89. 

Eugene Mi'intz : Les Precurseurs de la Renaissance en Italic. 
Histoire de lArt pendant la Ren. 2 vols. 

The foremost sources of the Renaissance must be the human- 
ists themselves : Petrarch, Boccaccio ; Marot, Rabelais, Robert 
and Henri Estienne (Stephanus), Ronsard and the Pleiade ; 
Calderon, Lope de Vega ; Erasmus, Reuchlin (Capnion), Lip- 
sius, Scaliger, Vossius, Heinsius, Grotius (Father of Interna- 
tional Law), Hemsterhuis ; More, Colet, Milton, Richard Bent- 
ley (Founder of Classical Philology). Cf. also Humanism in 
Hungary, Bohemia, Poland, Denmark, and the Scandinavian 
countries. 



398 BIBLIOGRAPHIES. 

Cr^w^^w .* Geschichte der Klass. Philologie. 4 vols. Bonn, 

1 843-' 50. 
E. Egger : L'Hell^nisme en France. 2 vols. Paris, 1869. 
y. B. Mullmger : The University of Cambridge to the Royal 

Inquisitions of 1535. Cambridge, 1873. 
R. C. Jebb, Bentley; H. Schoe?ifeld : Seb. Brant, Rabelais, 

Erasmus. Johns Hopkins press, Baltimore, 1893. 
C. Bursian : Geschichte der Klass. Philologie in Deutschl. 

Leipzig, 1883. 
Menkndes y Pelayo : Historia de las ideas esteticas en Espana. 

4th edition. Madrid, i883-'88. 
Fr. Paulsen : Geschichte des Gelehrten Unterrichts auf den 

Deutschen Schulen und Universitaten. Leipzig, 1885. 
Steinthal: Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft bei den Griechen 

u. Roman. 2 vols. 2d edition. Berlin, 1891. 



BIBLIOGRAPHIES. 399 



Bibliography to Chapter VIIL 

Prepared by Prof. Hp:rmann Schoenfet^d, Ph. D., 
of The Columbian Uiiiversit}-. 

Large space in the general histories of the Church. No his- 
tory of the 1 6th century can be written witliout constant refer- 
ence to the originators of the Reformation and the Roman 
Catholic Anti-Reformation ; cf. Hume, Macaulay, and Burnett, 
for England ; Ranke, Janssen (Catholic), Gieseler, Bonn, 1824- 
1S56 ; Dollinger (Catholic), etc., for Germany; Motley, for 
Holland ; Philip Schaff, for America. 

Sources : W3'clifFe's works in England, Huss in Bohemia, 
Savonarola in Italy, Wessel in Holland, etc. 
Luther's works, edited by J. G. Walch, 1740- 1753. 24 vols. Re- 
printed in St. Louis, Mo. The Erlangen edition, the 
German portion of which in 67 vols., completed in 1857, 
but the Latin portion is not 3-et complete. The Weimar 
edition, published by the generosity of King of Prussia. 
Best biography by Julius Kostlin, Elberfeld, 3d edition. 
Schaff's History of the Christian Church {vide vol. VI). 
Monographs by Harnack,Weisse, Luthardt, Monckeberg, 
Dieckhoff, etc. 
D' Aubigne : Histor}' of the Reformation (ardent Protestant). 
Hdusser, L. : The Period of the Reformation. English trans- 
lation. 1874. 
Beard : Reformation of the XVIth Century. 1883. 
Seebohm : Era of the Protestant Rvolution. 1874. 
Dorner : History of Protestant Theology. Munich, 1867. 

English, Edinburgh, 1871. 
f///;««w;/ .• Reformers Before the Reformation. 2 vols. Ham- 
burg, 1841. History of the Reformation, by Marheineke, 
Neudecker, Ranke, Dollinger (Roman Catholic), Fisher 
(New York, 1873), Kahnis (1873), Bezold (1890). 
Janssen (Roman Catholic) : Geschichte des Deutschen Volkes 

seit dem Ausgang des Mittelalters. 5 vols. 1876-1856. 
Darmestetter et Hatzfeld : Litterature Franfaise an XVP 

siecle. 
Rtid. Stdhelin : Erasmus' Stellung zur Reformation. Basel, 
1873. 



400 BIBLIOGRAPHlEvS. 



ENGLISH REFORMATION. 



Seebohni : The Oxford Reformers — John Colet, Erasmus, 
Thomas More. London, 1869. 

Strype : Ecclevsiastical Memorials and Annals of the Reforma- 
tion ; Memorials of Cranmer, Parker, Grindal, Whitgift, 
etc. See also works of Burnet^ Collier, Dodd (Roman 
Catholic), Cardwell, Fuller^ Soaines, Froude, Perrie. 

SCOTCH REFORMATION. 

Biichajian : Rerum Scoticarum Historia, and works of John 
Knox (till 1567), Calderwood, Robertson, Hetherington, 
Rudloff, Stanley, Cunningham, etc. 



BIBLIOGRAPHIES. 40I 



BibIio§ffaphy to Chapter IX. 

Prepared by Prof. Hermann Schoenfeld, Ph. D., 
of The Columbian Universit}-. 

THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 

/>'. Chapman : History of Gustavus Adolphus and of the Thirty 
Years' War up to the King's Death. 1856. 

E. Charvhiat : Histoire de la guerre de trente ans, 1614-1648. 

1878. 2 vols. 
G. Freytag : Aus deni Jahihundert des grossen Krieges. 1873. 
P. H. Grimoard : Histoire des conquetesde Gustave-Adolfe en 

Allemagne en 1630-1632. 1789. 3 vols. 
C. A. Mebold : Der dreissigjahrige Krieg und die Helden 

desselben. 1840. 2 vols. 

F. H. Naylor : Civil and military history of Germany from the 

lauding of Gustavus to the conclusion of the Treaty of 

Westphalia. 18 16. 2 vols. 
F. A. W. Schreiber : Maximilian I, Kurfiirst von Baiern, und 

der dreissigjahrige Krieg. 1868. 
/. M. von Soeltl: Religionskrieg in Deutschland. 1842. 3 vols. 
K. Wittich: Magdeburg, Gustav Adolf, und Tilly. 1874. 
K. L. von Woltmann: Geschichte des westphalischen Friedens. 

1 808-1809, 2 vols. 
E.Schebek: Losung der Wallensteinfrage. 1881. 
/. E. von Hurler : Wallenstein's vier letzte Lebensjahre. 1862. 
O. Klapp : Till}' im dreissigjahrigen Kriege. 1861. 2 vols. 
Comte de Villermont : Tilly, ou la guerre de trente ans de 1618 

a 1642. i860. 2 vols. 
Menzel : Neuere Geschichte der Deutschen seit der Reforma- 
tion. 1854-1855. 2 vols. 
Motley : Life and Death of John of Barneveld ; with a view of 

the primary causes and movements of the Thirty Years' 

War. 1874. 2 vols. 
J. Janssen : Vorbereitung des dreissigjahrigen Krieges. 1886. 
A . Gindely : History cf the Thirty Years' War. 4 vols. Prague, 

1 869- 1 880. Translated by Ten Brook. 



402 BIBI.IOGRAPHIES. 

A. Ghidely : lUustrierte Geschichte des Dreissigjahrigeii 
Krieges. 3 vols. Leipzig, 1884. 

S. R. Gardiner: The Thirty Years' War. 1874. 

C. A. Peschek : Reformation mid Aiitireformation in Bohnien. 

Fr. Schiller : Geschichte des Dreissigjahrigen Krieges. Leip- 
zig, 1793. 

Sir E. Gust : Lives of the Warriors of the Thirty Years' W^ar. 

G. R. L. Fletcher: Gustavus Adolphus and the Struggle of 
Protestantism for Existence. 

R. G. French: Gustavus Adolphus in Germany. 

J. L. Stevens : History of Gustavus Adolphus. 

/. Mitchell : Life of Wallenstein ; also Leop. von Ranke (1869), 
Gindely (1886), TJ/^'^r (1886). 

/. Bryce : The Holy Roman Empire. 

Ward: The House of Austria in the Thirty Years' War. 



BIBLIOGRAPHIES. 403 



Bibliography to Chapter X. 

Prepared by Prof. Hermann Schoenfei^d, Ph. D. 
of The Columbian University. 



J. Adams : History of France to the Revolution. 3 vols. 

G. Daniel: Histoire de France depuis I'etablissement de la 

nionarchie fran^aise dans les Gaules. '755-1757. i7 

vols. 
J. Gifford : History of France from the Earliest Times. 1789- 

1793. 4 vols. 
Guizot : History of France from the Earliest Ages to the Year 

1789. 1872-18S1. 8 vols. 
G. W. Kitchin : History of France Down to the Year 1453. 

1873- 
//. Martin: Histoire de France jusqu'eu 1789. 1865. 17 vols. 
//. Martin : Histoire de France depuis 1789 jus qu'a nos jours. 

1878-1883. 6 vols. 
J. Michelet : Histoire de France. 1861-1863. 15 vols. 
A. Ranken : History of France from the Times of Clovis. 

1801-1822. 9 vols. 
E. A. Schmidt: Geschichte von P'rankreich. 1835-1848. 4 

vols. 
SifuoJide de Sisniondi : Histoire des Fran9ais. 1821-1844. 31 

vols. 
W. Tooke : The Monarchy of France; Its Rise, Progress, and 

Fall. 1855. 
J. White : History of France. 1859. 
Zaz'rt///^.- Histoire des Frangais. 1880. 6 vols. 
Rambaud : Histoire de la civilization frangaise. Paris, 1887. 

3 vols. 
Lalanne : Dictionaire historique de la France. Paris, 1887. 
Lacretelle : Histoire de France, pendant les guerres de religion. 

1822. 4 vols. 
L. Ranke : Civil Wars and Monarchy in France in the Sixteenth 

and Seventeenth Centuries. 1852. 2 vols. 

55 



404 BIBLIOGRAPHIHvS. 

Wrast'all : Memoirs of the Kings of France of the Race of Va- 

lois. 1777. 2 vols. 
/. H. Bridges : France nnder Richelieu and Colbert. 1866. 
Voltaire : Siecle de Louis XIV. 1785. 2 vols. 
C. D. Yonge : History of France under the Bourbons. 1867. 

4 vols. 
J. F. Barriere : La cour et la ville sans Louis XIV, Louis XV, 

et Louis XVI. 1830. 
Carlyle : The French Revolution. 1857. ^ vols. 
Ta/w^.- The French Revolution. 1878-1881. 2 vols. 
Thiers: History of the French Revolution. 1838. 5 vols. 
Capefigue : Europe pendant le consulat et I'empire de Napoleon. 

1840. 
Thiers: History of the Consulate and Empire of France under 

Napoleon. 186 1-1873. 5 vols. 
O. Browning : Modern France, 1814-1879. 1880. 
Gregoif-e : Histoiie de France, periode contemporaine. 1879- 

1S83. 4 vols. 



BIBLIOGRAPHIES. 405 



BibIio§:raphy to Chapter XL 

Prepared by Prof. Hermann SchoenfeIvD, Ph. D., 
of The Columbian University. 

Besides the numberless Russian works generally inaccessible 
here : 
Eckardt : Modern Russia. Translated from German. London, 

1870. 
Hepworth Dixon : Free Russia. London, 1870, 
Ralston : Early Russian History. London, 1874. 
Alfred Rambaud : History of Russia from Earliest Times to 

1882. 3 vols. 3d edition. 1885. 
D. Mackenzie Wallace : Russia. New York, 1877. 
Lyof N. Tolstoi: What to Do? New York, 1887. 
Stepniak : Russian Peasantr}^ and Underground Russia. New 

York and London, 1888. 
He7iry Morley : Sketches of Russia. Philadelphia, 1890. 
Emilia Pardo Bazan : Russia: Its Peo^de and Literature. 

Chicago, 1890. 
Anatole Le Roy Beaulieu : The Empire of the Tsars and the 

Russians. Translated by Z. A. Ragozin. New York, 1893. 
Murray: Russians of Today. London, 1878. 
H. S. Edwards: Tlie RomanofTs. 

Alex. Bruckner : Peter der Grosse ; Katharina die Grosse. 
Waliszewski : Translation from the French. Peter the Great, 

Katherine the Great. 



406 BIBLIOGRAPHIES. 



Bibliogffaphy to Chapter XII. 

Prepared by Prof. Hermann Schoenfei^d, Ph. D., 
of The Columbian University. 

Tacitus: Germania. 
Ccssar : Commentaries. 

E. Gibbon : Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. 
W. C. Perry: The Franks. 

J. Bryce : The Holy Roman Empire. 

6". Menzies : History of Europe from the Decadence of the 

Western Empire to the Reformation. 
/. Sime : History of Germany. 

Dollinger: History of the Church. 

U. Balza7ii: The Popes and the Hohenstaufen. 

F. Raumer: Geschichte der Hohenstaufen. 
H. Hallam : The Middle Ages. 

W. von Giesebrecht : Geschichte der Deutschen Kaiserzeit. 
Joh. Janssen : Deutschlands Au.swartige Lage beim Ausgang 

des Mittelalters. 
W. Coxe : History of the House of Austria. 
C. T. Lewis : History of Germany. 
.S*. A. Dunham : History of the Germanic Empire. 
L. von Ranke : Memoirs of the House of Brandenburg. 
W. Robertson : Histor}^ of the Reign of Charles V. 

F. Kohlraiisch : Histor}' of Germany. (Obsolete.) 
W. Menzel : History of Germany. (Obsolete.) 

Joh. Gust. Droysen : Geschichte der Preussischen Politik (mon- 
umental j. 

Herbert Tuttle : History of Prussia to the Accession of Fred- 
erick the Great. Boston, 1884. 

Heitir. von Treitschke : Deutsche Geschichte im Neunzehnten 
jahrhundert. 

Heinr. von Sybel : Die Begriindung des Deutschen Reiches. 

G. H. Pertz : Monumenta Germanise Historica. The standard 

and monumental work of the sources of German History. 
Gustav Freytag, Felix Dahn, and Jos. Victor Scheffel: The 
classical novelist historians of the German nation. 



BIBLIOGRAPHIES. 407 

K. W. i^litzsch : Geschichte des Deutscheu Volkes bis zurii Angs- 

biirger Religionsfrieden. 
Ludwig Hdusser: Deutsche Geschichte voni Tode Friedrich 

des Grossen bis zur Grundiing des Deutscheu Bnudes 

Weizdcker, Reichstagsakteu 
JVattenbach and Lorenz : Deutsche Ouielleugeschichte. 
Georg Waitz : Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte. 



408 BIBI.IOGRAPHIES. 



Bibliogffaphy of Chapter XIIL 

Prepared by Prof. Chari^es C. SwIvSHER, Ph. D., 
of The Columbian University. 

For students who have not elected the work in Euglish His- 
tory in the College courses, Gardiner's Students' Histor}^ of 
England, if supplemented by some work of the character of 
Knight's Popular History of England, Ransome's Rise of Con- 
stitutional Government in England, or Taswell-Langmead's 
volume upon the Constitution and Bagehot's little monograph 
upon the present working of the English Constitution, will 
make a tolerably fair foundation. Gardiner's School Atlas of 
English History will be found very helpful for such a course of 
reading. 

General works practically covering the whole period are 
Green, I^ingard, and Hume. The Constitutional side is given 
by Stubbs, Hallani, and May. 

The Foreign Policy is briefl}- outlined in Spencer Walpole's 
little volume, and more at length by Burroughs' English For- 
eign Policy, and Professor vSeelye's Growth of English Foreign 
Policy, and Expansion of England. 

The Colonial side in — 
Egerton : A Short History of British Colonial Policy. 
Cottofi and Payne: Colonies and Dependencies. 
Sir Charles Dilke : Problems of Greater Britain. 
Lyall : Rise of British Dominion in India. 
Roberts: History of Canada. 
Parkin: Imperial Federation. 
Fitz Patrick : The Transvaal from Within, 

For the Social and Industrial side consult — 
Rogers : Six Centuries of Work and Wages. 
Traill: Social England. 
Ashley: Economic Histor3^ 
Cunnitigham: Alien Immigrants of England. 
Ward: Reign of Queen Victoria. 
Tovnbee : Industrial Revolution. 

The first chapters of Fronde's, and Macanlay' s Histories of 
England. 



BIBIJOGRAPHIES. 409 

Numerous memoirs, biographies, monographs, and histories 
of distinct periods afford opportunity for special reading. A 
few in the order of their time are mentioned : 

Slicbbs : Early Plantageuets. 

Longman : Life and Times of Edward III. 

Trevelyan : England in the Age of Wycliffe. 

Gasquet : The Great Pestilence. 

Gairdner: Houses of York and Lancaster; Life and Reign of 

Richard III. 
Bacon : History of Henry VI I. 
Brewer: Reign of Henry VIII. 
Seebohni's Oxford Reformers. 
Cteighton: Cardinal Wolsey ; Age of Elizabeth. 
Gardiner s History of England, 1603 to 1643. 
Clarendon: The Great Rebellion. 
Ranke : England in the vSeventeenth Century. 
Lord Mahon : England under Queen Anne; A History of Eng- 
land from 1 7 13 to 1763. 
Lecky: England in the Eighteenth Century. 
Martineau: England from 181510 1854. 
Justin McCarthy : History of Our Own Time. 
Walpole : History of England from 181 5. 



4IO BIBLIOGRAPHIES. 



Bibliography to Chapter XIV» 

Beginning. For bird's-eye view of whole field, use of smaller 
manuals, numerous and excellent, will be found serviceable. 
Same end may be reached, though not so well, through appro- 
priate portions of general outlines like those of Ploetz, Weber, 
Fisher. 

Enlargement. Second step is indicated by such works as 
Epochs of American Histor}^ — Thwaites : The Colonies ; Hart : 
Makingof Nation ; Wilson: Division and Reunion. American 
History vSeries, — Fisher : Colonial Era ; Sloane : French War 
and Revolution ; Walker : Making of Nation ; Burgess : The 
Middle Period. learned : History for Ready Reference, Art., 
United States. Then follow larger histories, e. g.^ Palfrey, 
Hildreth, Bryant and Gay, Von Hoist, McMaster, Schouler. 

Special periods. Each of the general histories treats these 
in order with varying fullness. In addition may be noted, 
Doyle : English Colonies in North America. Parkman's Series, 
France and England in North America. F'iske's Series : Dis- 
covery of America ; Beginnings of New England ; American 
Revolution ; Critical Period. Winsor : Narrative and Critical 
History. Bancroft : History of United States, History of Consti- 
tution. Curtis : Constitutional History. Cooley : Constitutional 
Law, Constitutional Limitations. Stor}^: Commentaries. Greene: 
Historical View American Revolution. Adams: History of the 
United States, 1801-1817. American Statesmen Series, Ameri- 
can Commonwealth Series. Articles in Lalor. Rhodes : His- 
tory of the United States from Compromise, 1850. Wilson : 
Rise and Fall of Slave Power. Greeley : American Conflict. 
Draper : History of the Civil War. Stephens : Constitutional 
View of War Between the States. Davis : Rise and Fall of the 
Confederate Government. Swinton : Twelve Decisive Battles of 
War. Comte de Paris : Civil War in America. Nicolay and Hay : 
Life of Lincoln. Biographies of prominent men not included 
in series named. 

Maps. Many works named have good maps. Further aid 
will be found in the encyclopedias, various school geographies, 
MacCoun : Historical Geography of United States, Labbertou : 
Historical Atlas. 



BIBLIOGRAPHIES. ^H 

Special helps. For work still to be done material is at hand 
in files of annuals-Appleton, Poor, Rowell. Publications of 
Departments. Elliott : Debates on Adoption of Federal Consti- 
tution. Federalist. Force: Collection Tracts and Papers; Amer- 
ican Archives. Benton : Abridgment Debates of Congress 
Niles: National Register, 1811-1847. Scott: War of Rebellion- 
great collection official records, Federal and Confederate. Pres- 
ton : Documents. Macdonald : Documents. Old South and 
American History Leaflets. Hart : American History by Con- 
temporaries. Remarkable collection Jesuit Relations. Works 
most of them published and easily available, of national leaders,' 
from Wnshington to present. 

Guide books. Easily accessible are Winsor : Handbook Amer- 
lean Revolution. Hart and Channing : Guide to Study Amer- 
ican History. Most generally used of all, Adams : Manual of 
Historical Literature. 



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